INSIDER INTERVIEW
By Margaret Spiegelman (/authors/Margaret-Spiegelman) / April 29, 2025 at 1:45 PM
The Mexican information and technology sector is making a pitch to U.S. officials to elevate services trade and digital issues when they come to the table with Mexican and Canadian counterparts to discuss the future of their trilateral trade pact.
Sofía Pérez Gasque, general director of the Mexican Association of the Information Technology Industry (AMITI), says services, along with fast-evolving digital issues like artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, must be a priority in an upcoming review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, expected to begin in the second half of this year. Pérez Gasque spoke to Inside U.S. Trade while she was in Washington last week with AMITI member company representatives for meetings with officials at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Commerce and State departments, Capitol Hill offices, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others, including AMITI’s U.S. counterpart, the Information Technology Industry Council.
Her key goals: To open channels of communications with the U.S. ahead of the statutory review of USMCA and to advance discussions with industry representatives on both sides of the border on shared priorities — so that “when the governments are in negotiation, the private sector is already in sync about what we need,” she said.
AMITI represents “hardware, software, integrators, consultants, channels, service providers and technology-based sectors of Mexico,” as described on its website. About 80 percent of its members are service providers and the other 20 percent are involved in electronics manufacturing.
Some of those manufacturing companies, Pérez Gasque said, are involved in producing semiconductors and other electronic components used in the automotive sector and have been affected by recent U.S. tariffs (/node/182712) on automotive imports — another reason, she says, why working to facilitate services trade in the region is critical and could help “balance the system.”
Trump administration officials, including the president, have prioritized goods trade over services trade in rhetoric and policy. While President Trump, for instance, describes the U.S.’ goods trade deficit as an indication of unfair foreign trade practices, he is typically silent on the U.S.’ services trade surplus.
USMCA includes a chapter on cross-border trade in services, but Pérez Gasque contends that “services has to be a main focus in all the chapters.”
While goods trade is “really important,” she said services “are more important now for this good relationship between the U.S. and Mexico,” citing the U.S.’ position as a major services exporter.
AMITI, ITI and Technation — a Canadian IT industry association — earlier this year issued a joint statement (https://amiti.org.mx/12295/declaracion-de-la-industria- tecnologica-de-america-del-norte-sobre-la-renovacion-del-t-mec/) urging the U.S., Mexico and Canada to ensure USMCA’s continuation while using an upcoming statutory review to “consider the evolving nature of the digital economy to address emerging challenges.”
AMITI is working with ITI on a policy paper on USMCA with recommendations on how they believe the agreement can be updated — without reopening the text, Pérez Gasque stressed — to better facilitate services trade and create frameworks for ensuring ethical use of artificial intelligence and stronger cybersecurity across North America.
USMCA Free Trade Commission decisions, she said in a follow-up message, could offer pathways for updating the agreement’s “sectoral annexes” or including “new frameworks related specifically to services trade.” For instance, the three countries could establish a
sectoral annex “that explicitly covers emerging fields like cloud services, artificial intelligence, and cross-border data flows, ensuring regulatory cooperation and fair treatment across North America,” she wrote.
Her pitch comes amid ongoing U.S. economic and national security concerns about Chinese investment in Mexico, which are likely to factor in the upcoming review.
According to the Spanish newspaper El País (https://english.elpais.com/economy-and- business/2025-02-27/more-brakes-on-chinese-investment-and-technology-this-is- how-mexico-obtained-the-new-tariff-extension.html), Mexico earlier this year obtained a reprieve on new U.S. tariffs — a pause that has since been further extended — following assurances that it would ramp up controls on Chinese investment, in addition to promises related to countering illicit drug trade and imposing tariffs on Chinese semiconductors and microchips.
Pérez Gasque in her message cited what she described as “ongoing discussions and a cautious regulatory approach” by Mexico toward scrutinizing foreign investment in sensitive sectors such as telecommunications.
She noted, too, that Mexican government has been engaging with the U.S. as Mexico stands up a new Agency for Digital Transformation and Telecommunications with directorates on cybersecurity and other digital issues. In a trip to Washington earlier this year, Pérez Gasque joined a Mexican government delegation that met with officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, among others, to discuss best practices on digital policies.
Cybersecurity is a “matter of national security for both countries,” she contended in the interview, adding, “we need to be in sync as a region.” — Margaret Spiegelman (mspiegelman@iwpnews.com (mailto:mspiegelman@iwpnews.com))
VER NOTA EN MEDIO: https://insidetrade.com/daily-news/mexican-it-sector-urges-us-elevate-services-usmca-review
