The Mexican peso rallied to its highest level in 2017 on Wednesday as the U.S. dollar tumbled in response to FOMC’s decision to increase interest rates to 1%.
The peso was already gaining ground against the dollar on Wednesday after Peter Navarro, who leads the White House National Trade Council, told Bloomberg that the United States is seeking to form an alliance with Mexico and Canada, to keep foreign auto parts manufacturers out of the North American market.
The proposed partnership is said to be just one component of a complex NAFTA-renegotiation-initiative by the Trump administration, which is set to begin in the second half of 2017.
Navarro’s comment pushed the USD/MXN exchange rate lower on the day, however, the FOMC interest rate decision at 2:00 p.m. weakened the dollar significantly, pushing the USD/MXN rate even lower towards the end of the trading session.
By 3:45 p.m. EST, the peso hit its highest rate for 2017: 19.19499. At the close of the NY Forex session, Mexico’s currency had gained 2.26% on the day, closing at 19.22235 to the USD:
At press time, the USD/MXN rate is about 5.5% away from returning to pre-Trump levels, when 18.16 pesos were equivalent to 1.00 USD:
Mexican peso banknote photo by Richard Cawood
