Investing.com - The Mexican peso fell to 15-month lows against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, amid escalating trade tensions after the central American country confirmed that it will impose retaliatory tariffs against U.S. imports.
USD/MXN hit a high of 20.45, the strongest level since February 2017 and was at 20.39 by 08:38 AM ET (12:38 GMT), up 1.61% for the day. The dollar has risen around 3.8% against the peso for the year to date.
Mexico’s economy ministry said on Tuesday that it will impose tariffs of 15% to 25% on U.S. steel products and on some agricultural goods after pledging to retaliate against U.S. President Donald Trump's metals tariffs.
On Monday, Mexico challenged the U.S. tariffs at the World Trade Organization, saying that they “violate the WTO’s agreement on safeguards by not having been adopted in accordance with the procedures set out there”.
The escalation in the trade row comes as negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement, which underpins trade between the US, Mexico and Canada, look less and less likely to end in a deal.
Reuters reported that White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Tuesday that President Trump is considering a shift in the negotiations, to separate talks with Mexico and Canada.
"He is very seriously contemplating kind of a shift in the NAFTA negotiations. His preference now, and he asked me to convey this, is to actually negotiate with Mexico and Canada separately," Kudlow said in an interview with Fox News.
"He may be moving quickly toward these bilateral discussions instead of as a whole."