MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president responded angrily Tuesday to President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to impose a 25 percent tariff on its products if the country didn’t curb the flow of irregular migrants and fentanyl, warning that the penalties would only wind up causing inflation and unemployment in the United States.
Mexico vows to retaliate if Trump imposes 25 percent tariffs
Mexico is the top U.S. trading partner, and Canada is not far behind.
Mexican
President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Nov. 26 that Donald Trump's threat
to impose severe tariffs on Mexico would endanger the economies of both
nations. (Video: Reuters)
November 26, 2024 The Washington Post
President Claudia Sheinbaum also made clear that Mexico would retaliate with its own tariffs if Trump went ahead with his plan.
“President Trump, it isn’t with threats or tariffs that we resolve the migratory phenomenon or the abuse of drugs in the United States,” Sheinbaum said at her morning news conference, reading a letter she had written to the incoming U.S. leader. “What’s needed to confront these great challenges is cooperation and understanding.
Trump on Monday night said he would impose the 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada on his first day in office, to halt the “invasion” of drugs and migrants. He also vowed to introduce a 10 percent tariff on goods from China, the source of precursor chemicals to make fentanyl.
Trump’s post on the Truth Social site stunned the United States’ closest trading partners. The three countries exchange $1.8 trillion in goods and services per year, making them one of most important commercial blocs in the world. On Tuesday, the U.S. dollar rose against the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar, but the American stock exchange remained steady.
Canada’s leaders also reacted with dismay to Trump’s message. Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a statement that their country “places the highest priority on border security” and had worked closely with the United States to disrupt the flow of fentanyl.
Mexico is the top U.S. trading partner, and Canada is not far behind. If Trump imposes the tariffs, he would be violating free trade that has bound together the three North American countries for decades and led to an explosion of commerce and production lines that cross borders. China is also a major trade partner, with a bilateral exchange of about $600 billion.
U.S. imports from Mexico include cars, machinery, electrical equipment, food and beer. Canada supplies oil and gas, machinery and parts, and much else. The United States relies on China for electronics, particularly phones, along with toys, furniture and plastics. Economists warn that tariffs could affect grocery prices, which were a key election issue. Mexico supplied more than half of U.S. fresh fruit imports in 2022, according to the Agriculture Department.
The Mexican and Canadian leaders emphasized that not only would their countries be hurt by the tariffs — but U.S. businesses and consumers would, too. Canada supplied around 60 percent of American crude oil imports last year, the officials said. Sheinbaum noted that Mexico’s top exporters included U.S.-based automakers General Motors and Ford Motor Co., which have built sprawling modern production facilities around the country.
“If there’s a tariff, another one will come in response,” she said. “And that will put at risk our common businesses.”
A trade war, she said, “would cause inflation and the loss of jobs in the United States and Mexico.”
Mexico’s economy is heavily dependent on exports to the United States, which buys more than 80 percent of the goods it sends abroad.
Sheinbaum’s comments marked a sharp shift from her conciliatory tone following Trump’s election victory earlier this month. The leftist Mexican leader, who took office in October, has largely continued the policies of her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had built a friendly relationship with Trump. In 2019, when Trump threatened Mexico with tariffs unless migration was reduced, López Obrador gave in to his demands, deploying the military to deter foreigners heading for the border.
But migration has surged again in recent years, as asylum seekers flee repression and poverty in countries reeling from the pandemic and failed economic policies.
During his campaign, Trump blasted President Joe Biden for soaring apprehensions at the U.S. border, which hit a record 249,785 in December last year. Since then, however, the numbers have dropped by around 75 percent, thanks to stricter Biden administration policies and a stepped-up effort in Mexico to detain U.S.-bound migrants.
Sheinbaum added that about half of those currently arriving at the U.S. border have appointments for asylum interviews made through an app created by U.S. Customs and Border Protection called CBP One. “For these reasons, migrant caravans no longer arrive at the border,” she said.
While the two countries have worked together closely on migration, the antidrug relationship has fractured in recent months. Mexico was furious about a secret operation in July in which one of the country’s legendary drug lords, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, was spirited out of the country by another Mexican trafficker and turned over to American authorities. Mexican officials only learned of the operation after Zambada was in U.S. custody. The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, said recently that Mexico had “closed the door” to security cooperation.
The fallout from the Zambada episode underscored why Mexico has been hesitant to launch an aggressive assault on drug organizations. His capture, apparently engineered by another leader of the Sinaloa cartel, provoked a split in one of Mexico’s biggest criminal organizations. The two factions have been battling for months, leaving more than 400 people dead and the economy of Sinaloa state paralyzed.
Nonetheless, Sheinbaum said that Mexico had seized enormous amounts of fentanyl and other drugs. She blamed the United States for contributing to the narco violence that has seared the country for more than two decades. Around 70 percent of the weapons captured from criminals in Mexico are U.S.-made, she said. “We don’t produce these weapons; we don’t abuse these synthetic drugs,” she said.
Sheinbaum said she would try to call the Trump team “to sit down with them as soon as possible.”
@marybsheridan