Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is resisting cuts to the 25% tariff on automobiles and the 50% duties on steel and aluminum, according to officials familiar with the negotiations — and that resistance is the reason U.S.-Mexico trade talks are stalling.

The standoff centers on the two highest-rate instruments in Washington's current tariff schedule. Autos carry a 25% duty. Steel and aluminum carry 50%. Lutnick, who heads the Commerce Department and with it a central role in tariff policy, does not want either number reduced as part of a deal with Mexico City.

Officials involved in the discussions deny the process has reached a formal impasse. The talks continue. But the same officials acknowledge the specific obstacle: the Commerce Secretary's opposition to trimming the auto and metals rates.

What is actually being negotiated?

The dispute is narrow but consequential. Mexico has been seeking relief from duties that sit at the top of the U.S. tariff structure:

• Automobiles: 25% — the rate Lutnick is defending.
• Steel and aluminum: 50% — double the auto rate, and likewise protected by the Commerce Secretary.

Both figures are fixed points in the U.S. position for now. Any agreement that lowers them would require Lutnick to change course or the White House to overrule him; the source material does not indicate either has happened.

Who is Howard Lutnick in this process?

As Commerce Secretary, Lutnick occupies the cabinet post with direct authority over trade enforcement and tariff administration. His refusal to move on the 25% and 50% rates gives him effective veto power over the core of what Mexico wants, regardless of what other negotiators may be prepared to concede.

That is the structural problem in the talks. Mexico's principal ask — relief on autos and metals — runs directly into the position of the official whose department controls those very duties.

Is this an impasse or not?

By the officials' own framing, no. They deny the talks have broken down.

By the substance, the gap is real. One side wants cuts to the 25% auto tariff and the 50% metals duties. The Commerce Secretary resists cuts to both. Until that changes, the negotiations can continue without producing the outcome Mexico is seeking.

The distinction matters for anyone reading the talks through headlines. "Stalled" describes the pace. "Impasse" describes a collapse. Officials concede the first and reject the second.

Why the metals rate is the harder problem

The 50% steel and aluminum tariff is the single highest rate in contention, twice the level of the auto duty. If Lutnick will not accept relief at 25%, he is unlikely to accept it at 50% — and no reduction on either front has been agreed.

The result: U.S.-Mexico talks remain open, but the two tariffs at the heart of the dispute remain exactly where they started — 25% on autos, 50% on steel and aluminum, with Howard Lutnick standing by both numbers.

Elena Vasquez, CEO Frontier