“US will come around on Mexico out of pragmatism,” Ebrard

Economy Secretary talks USMCA negotiations with The Mexico Political Economist.

Mexico’s Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard was spritely when he spoke to The Mexico Political Economist following a much lauded speech in front of global investors. “I’ll tell you why the USMCA is going to survive,” he said.

Ebrard is plugged into the matrix, and business is loving it. It isn’t Hollywood’s capital-M Matrix, even though Ebrard has doubled down on a vision of tech futurism.

It’s not even because Ebrard, like most of president Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration, seems to have taken the pro-business red pill and started seeing things from the private sector’s perspective—something businesses are very appreciative of, after feeling shunned by the previous administration.

No, in this case, the “matrix” is a reference to the comprehensive consultation process the Economy Secretary is heading across all of Mexico in the lead up to the 2026 revision of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). It looks like this:

On one axis, Ebrard is consulting 30 strategic sectors domestically, asking them to submit questions, issues, and requests surrounding the regional trade agreement. On the other axis, he is visiting each one of Mexico’s 32 states. The result is a mammoth months’ long consult; a matrix collecting the perspectives of hundreds of companies, unions, academic and social institutions across a plethora of Mexico’s many geographies.

“The consultation is not an idle exercise,” said Sergio Contreras, president of the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment, and Technology (COMCE). “It reveals the realities in each state, each local sector’s capacities, and what the plan moving forward should be.”

The consultation process, spanning from September 2025 to January 2026, is a domestic economic teamback session for Mexican business, State, and labour to strategise. But in the age of Trump, Team Mexico is also making the most of this exercise to negotiate where it really matters too.

The real negotiation

The nativists in the Trump administration will be convinced to back trade with Mexico “not because they love Mexico but because they are pragmatic,” Ebrard told The Mexico Political Economist.