Mexico truckers stand down as tariff talks near the line
Mexico’s roads reopen, but only on a promise. Mexican trucking groups, including CANACAR (the national road-freight chamber), agreed on Tuesday 27 October to lift blockades after one day of a national stoppage. The government counted 38 protest sites in 19 states, 691 vehicles and 858 people. Our view: this is a pause, not a fix. The groups have heard promises from the Interior Ministry since February 2024. Holdouts say those promises have not delivered. Forwarders should clear backlogs now and keep buffer plans. Our call: no new national stoppage before 30 November, but no signed US tariff cut on Mexican steel, aluminium or cars by then either.
Mexico’s truckers trade their blockades for four meetings, and the hard part starts now
Mexico’s national trucking stoppage lasted one day. On Tuesday 27 October, CANACAR, the national road-freight chamber, and other trucking groups agreed with the Interior Ministry (Segob) to lift their blockades. In return, the government agreed to four high-level working sessions, FreightWaves reported. The stoppage had started on Monday 26 October. By the government’s count it reached 38 locations in 19 states, with 691 vehicles and 858 participants. CANACAR disputed that and said the protests covered all 32 states.
Our view is simple. The roads are open again, but the problems that closed them are untouched. The truckers won a meeting schedule, not a single measure. That makes this a pause. Forwarders should treat it as one.
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What was agreed
According to EFE, published by Infobae, the groups met Segob officials and then Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez and Finance Secretary Édgar Amador Zamora. CANACAR president Augusto Ramos Melo announced the sessions after the meeting, FreightWaves said. Carlos García Álvarez, president of HAMOTAC, and Lauro Rincón Hernández, president of FEMATRAC, also attended. Both are trucking associations.
According to EFE, the Segob statement said: “Se acordó realizar mesas de trabajo con las dependencias competentes para abordar temas de seguridad carretera, infraestructura, asuntos fiscales, seguridad social y condiciones laborales.” (Our translation: “It was agreed to hold working groups with the relevant agencies to address highway security, infrastructure, tax matters, social security and working conditions.”)
The transport groups, EFE reported, committed “a retirar definitivamente los bloqueos y suspender las manifestaciones del transporte de carga”. (Our translation: “to definitively remove the blockades and suspend the freight transport protests.”) Note the two verbs. The blockades are removed. The protests are suspended. Suspended things can restart.
EFE also said the parties “concretaron una agenda para esta semana, tanto federal como estatal” (our translation: “set an agenda for this week, both federal and state”), with security, infrastructure, labour authorities and the National Guard.
There were loose ends. At FreightWaves’ publication time, the groups had not confirmed that every demonstration had ended.
Why we call it a pause
The first reason is the track record. Some strikers did not attend the meeting at all. They told EFE that “los compromisos establecidos con Gobernación desde febrero de 2024 siguen sin traducirse en soluciones suficientes” (our translation: “the commitments made with the Interior Ministry since February 2024 still have not turned into sufficient solutions”). That is more than two and a half years of promises, by their account.
The second reason is that Mexico has run this play before, very recently. In late November 2025, a farmers’ group (FNRCM) and a truckers’ group (ANTAC) blocked highways for four days. Their blockades hit toll booths, US ports of entry and customs offices, Mexico News Daily reported on 28 November 2025. That ended after a 13-hour session with the Interior Ministry and a “preliminary agreement on the security, water and agricultural issues.” The fix was, again, permanent working groups, plus promises of specialised prosecutors for highway crime, cameras on highways and safer rest stops. ANTAC’s leader, David Estévez, praised the “positive agreements” but warned his group was willing to block highways again if the working groups did not work.
Eleven months later, truckers were on the roads again, this time led by CANACAR. CANACAR is the establishment voice of Mexican road freight, not a fringe group. When its president said before the stoppage that “México no aguanta más” (our translation: “Mexico can’t take any more”), as N+ reported on 23 October, it signalled that the working-group model has lost some of its credibility.
The third reason is the list of demands. EFE lists road security, infrastructure, tax incentives, action on irregular transport, an end to abuses by officials, lower tolls and better operating conditions. N+ reported that the sector also complained about extortion, poor roads, over-regulation and reduced tax incentives. Some of these can be eased with a press release and more patrols. Tax incentives and tolls cost the Finance Ministry money. That is why the finance secretary was in the room. It is also why we think the talks will be slow.
The tariff talks on the same border
The trucking deal landed in the same week as a sharper question for anyone moving goods across the US-Mexico border: will the US cut its tariffs on Mexico?
At her morning press conference on Monday 26 October, President Claudia Sheinbaum said the talks with Washington were well advanced but not finished. EFE quoted her: “Hay que esperar todavía. Vamos muy avanzados, pero todavía falta.” (Our translation: “We still have to wait. We’re very far along, but there’s still more to do.”) She gave no date. She said: “El secretario de Economía está trabajando muy de cerca con el área de tratados comerciales de Estados Unidos” (our translation: “The economy secretary is working very closely with the US trade treaty office”), and added that he was also working with the Commerce Department.
That followed Donald Trump on Friday 23 October. EFE’s Spanish rendering of his words: “Estamos muy cerca de un acuerdo con México. Será un acuerdo muy bueno, espero que para ellos también.” (Our translation: “We are very close to a deal with Mexico. It will be a very good deal, I hope for them too.”)
According to EFE, Mexico wants cuts to US tariffs, “especialmente los del 50 % sobre el acero y el aluminio y del 25 % sobre los automóviles, con algunas excepciones” (our translation: “especially the 50% on steel and aluminium and the 25% on cars, with some exceptions”).
The gap between “very close” and “still more to do” is not new. On 20 October, Mexico News Daily reported Sheinbaum saying “there are still some [unresolved] issues” and “A lot of progress has been made [but] we haven’t yet reached a final agreement.” She said the US had made “proposals,” offering to cut a certain tariff in exchange for Mexico doing “A, B, C, D.” She did not say what those were. Mexico News Daily also cited a Wall Street Journal report that talks had stalled because Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick opposed the cuts Mexico wants.
Trump’s own framing is about the deficit. “We’re not going to lose $150 billion with Mexico,” he said at a Kansas rally on 19 October, according to Mexico News Daily. The site puts the US goods deficit with Mexico at about $156 billion for January to August 2026. All of this sits inside the review of USMCA, the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. In July, the US declined to extend USMCA for another 16 years, Mexico News Daily reported. So the tariff deal, if it comes, will be one piece of a longer fight.
Our read: a deal that shrinks a $156 billion deficit to “maybe down to … zero”, in Trump’s words to the same Kansas rally, needs big Mexican concessions. Sheinbaum has said she cannot negotiate anything outside Mexico’s constitution and laws, or anything that would hurt the economy or jobs. That gap takes time to close.
What this means for forwarders
Start with the trucks. Cross-border and inland moves should be moving again from Wednesday 28 October. Expect a catch-up period. Carriers will be working through missed pickups and rebooked appointments, so tell customers to plan for a few days of slower service, not instant normality.
Keep the security playbook live. Cargo theft and extortion did not change on Tuesday. Daytime-only moves, convoy or escort options on high-risk stretches, and GPS tracking remain worth their cost.
Watch the holdouts. Not every group signed up. Groups that skipped the meeting can still block a key highway or a border approach at short notice, even if CANACAR stays at the table. A local blockade at the wrong crossing can cost a day.
Keep buffer stock where you can. For shippers feeding US plants from Mexico, a few extra days of inventory is cheap insurance while the working sessions play out.
On tariffs, do not quote on hope. Landed-cost estimates should assume today’s 50% on steel and aluminium and 25% on cars until a deal is signed and published with an effective date. If a deal comes, the detail will matter more than the headline: which products, which exceptions, and from when. Customs teams should be ready to re-run duty scenarios for affected customers within a day of any announcement.
Our call
The stoppage was suspended on 27 October with a commitment to talks this week. That gives the main groups a reason to stay at the table, at least for a few weeks.
Our prediction: CANACAR will not restart a national stoppage before 30 November 2026. We expect the working sessions to produce announced security steps, such as more highway patrols or National Guard deployments on named routes, within the next three weeks. We do not expect a tax-incentive or toll package to be agreed by 30 November. We do expect at least one regional blockade by a group that stayed out of the deal before that date.
On tariffs, we expect no signed agreement cutting the US 50% steel and aluminium tariff or the 25% car tariff on Mexico by 30 November 2026. If a deal is announced before then, we expect it to be a framework with exceptions and a later start date, not an immediate cut.
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