Beef and biofuels were top priorities when Brazil and Mexico signed a series of agreements on Thursday (28 August) to deepen their cooperation as shifting global trade dynamics continue to reshape Latin America’s two largest economies.
While falling short of the full trade pact Brazil had hoped to secure, the agreements covering agriculture, health and biofuels are seen as a step towards tighter regulatory alignment and expanded market access.
Mexico recently overtook the United States as Brazil’s second-largest beef buyer, trailing only China, after US President Donald Trump’s administration imposed a new 50% tariff on Brazilian beef imports on top of an existing 26.4% levy, forcing Brazil – the world’s largest beef exporter – to find alternative customers.
By July, Brazil’s beef exports to Mexico had reached 67,659 metric tons – nearly triple the volume from the same period in 2024. Brazilian officials have asked Mexico to authorise 14 additional meatpacking plants, hoping to bring the total allowed to ship to Mexico to 49.
Mexico has said regulators plan to audit the plants in September to ensure they meet the country’s traceability and sanitary standards.
While Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, ruled out an outright free trade deal, the new agreements help to deepen ongoing collaborations between the two countries in the automotive and energy sectors under Economic Complementation Agreements 53 and 55.
“We are not considering a free trade agreement (...) but rather collaboration,” Sheinbaum said before meeting with Vice President Geraldo Alckmin in Mexico City. “Brazil produces and develops technologies in certain areas that are of interest to Mexico, and likewise, Mexico has advancements that are valuable to Brazil.”
Beyond beef, the two nations forged an agreement on clean energy with a declaration of intent to increase cooperation in the production, use, regulation and certification of biofuels, as Mexico aims to develop its biofuel sector.
A new Brazilian mandate increases the proportion of biodiesel that must be mixed in diesel from 14% to 15%, while ethanol in gasoline will rise from 27% to 30%.
The partnership also included memorandums of understanding on health regulation and medical research and opened Mexico’s market to various Brazilian agricultural products that were previously blocked by sanitary and tariff rules, including peaches, asparagus, tuna and animal feed.
Even before the latest deals, trade between the two countries was on the rise. According to official data, trade flow between Brazil and Mexico grew from around US$9bn in 2021 to US$12.5bn in 2024. Among Brazil’s main exports to Mexico are soy and soy derivatives, beef and chicken, petrochemicals and cars, while Mexico sends Brazil light and heavy vehicles, electronic components and chemical and fertilisers.