Posted on 18 Jun 2025
Cleveland-Cliffs chief executive Lourenco Goncalves, who previously had advocated for kicking Mexico out of the North America trade bloc, now says there is potential for a reconfigured three-nation alliance to be effective.
Speaking at the Global Steel Dynamics Forum attended by Kallanish in New York, Goncalves on Tuesday stated that both Mexico and Canada seem to be responding well to President Donald Trump’s negotiating stances regarding melted-and-poured rules and other trade priorities.
At previous steel conferences, Goncalves attacked Mexico as a “trans-shipment playground” (see Kallanish 18 June 2024). Only half joking, he suggested that the abbreviation for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) should be changed to “USCA” to eliminate Mexico. The main problem was that too much Chinese steel was making its way into Mexico’s manufacturing sector, undermining US and Canadian interests.
Now he perceives that Mexico is getting serious about thwarting the injection of unfairly traded steel into its supply chain. Some progress has been reported in bilateral US talks with Mexico (see Kallanish 11 June) and Canada (see Kallanish 17 June).
“Mexico is doing a lot to catch up and to do the right things,” Goncalves observes now. “Canada is making progress as well as Mexico, so that is a good start.”
The USMCA, negotiated during President Donald Trump’s first term in office, is scheduled for renegotiation next year. Coupled with the new 50% steel tariff (see Kallanish 31 May), Goncalves says a successor USMCA should focus on promoting domestic production of steel and automobiles. That, in turn, would stimulate the entire manufacturing sector in the US.
“The tariffs are necessary,” the Cliffs ceo emphasises, particularly highlighting Trump's doubling of the Section 232 steel levy. “With 25%, several countries were selling through the tariffs. Now we have 50 [percent]. I hope we do not need more.”
Goncalves opposes including South American steel-producing nations in the North American trade framework. He says South American countries, particular his native Brazil, are cooperating too much with the Chinese steel supply chain.
Source:Kallanish
