Mexico suggests it would impose its own tariffs to retaliate against any Trump tariffs

MEXICO CITY — President Claudia Sheinbaum suggested Tuesday that Mexico could retaliate with tariffs of its own, after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% import duties on Mexican goods if the country doesn’t stop the flow of drugs and migrants across the border.

Sheinbaum said she was willing to engage in talks on the issues, but said drugs were a U.S. issue.

“One tariff would be followed by another in response, and so on until we put at uncertainty ordinary businesses,” Sheinbaum said, referring to U.S. automakers that have plants on both sides of the border.

She said Tuesday that Mexico had done a lot to stem the flow of migrants, noting “caravans of migrants no longer reach the border.” However, Mexico’s efforts to fight drugs like the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl — which is manufactured by Mexican cartels using chemicals imported from China — have weakened in the last year.

Sheinbaum said Mexico suffered from an influx of weapons smuggled in from the United States, and said the flow of drugs “is a issue of community health and consumption in your country’s population.”

Sheinbaum also criticized U.S. spending on weapons, saying the money should instead be spent regionally to address the issue of migration. “If a percentage of what the United States spends on war were dedicated to tranquility and advancement, that would address the underlying causes of migration,” she said.

Sheinbaum’s bristly response suggests that Trump faces a much different Mexican president than he did in his first term.

Back in late 2018, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was a charismatic, ancient-school politician who developed a chummy connection with Trump. The two were eventually able to strike a bargain in which Mexico helped keep migrants away from the border — and received other countries’ deported migrants — and Trump backed down on the threats.

But Sheinbaum, who took office Oct. 1, is a stern leftist ideologue trained in radical learner protest movements, and appears less willing to pacify or mollify Trump.

“We discuss as equals, there is no subordination here, because we are a great country,” Sheinbaum said, while adding, “I ponder we are going to reach an agreement.”

But Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis of the monetary throng Banco Base, fears the personality clash could escalate things into brinkmanship; Trump clearly hates to misplace.

“Trump may have just tossed the threat out there, as he does,” Siller said. “But Mexico’s response, that we’re going to respond to you with tariffs, that will make Trump really impose them.”

It’s not obvious how solemn Trump’s threat is. The U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement forbids just imposing tariffs on other member countries. And it’s not obvious whether the economy could even tolerate sudden levies on imports: Auto plants on both sides of the border depend on each other for parts and components, and some production lines could screech to a halt.

“It is unacceptable and would factor expense boost and job losses in Mexico and the United States,” Sheinbaum said, while offering to talk about the issues. “If tariffs leave up, who will it hurt? General Motors,” she said.

“exchange is the best path to achieve understanding, tranquility and prosperity for our two countries,” Sheinbaum said. “I aspiration our teams can meet soon.”

Late Monday, Trump said he would impose a 25% responsibility on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, as one of his first executive orders.

The tariffs, if implemented, could dramatically raise prices for American consumers on everything from gas to automobiles to agricultural products. The U.S. is the largest importer of goods in the globe, with Mexico, China and Canada its top three suppliers, according to the most recent U.S. Census data.

Trump made the threats Monday in a pair of posts on his Truth Social site in which he railed against an influx of illegal migrants, even though apprehensions at the southern border have been hovering near four-year lows.

“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all essential documents to expense Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” he wrote.

He said the recent tariffs would remain in place “until such period as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”

“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute correct and power to easily solve this long simmering issue. We hereby demand that they use this power,” he went on, “and until such period that they do, it is period for them to pay a very large worth!”