Trump claims a triumph on immigration after a call with Mexico’s president. But she suggests no transformation

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President-elect Donald Trump declared a triumph on stopping illegal immigration through Mexico on Wednesday after talking with that country’s chief. But Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum suggested Mexico was already doing its part and had no profit in closing its borders.

The two spoke just days after Trump threatened to impose sweeping recent tariffs on Canada and Mexico as part of his attempt to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs.

Trump said Sheinbaum “agreed to stop Migration through Mexico.” Sheinbaum indicated separately on social media that she told Trump that Mexico is already “taking worry of” migrant caravans, calling it an “excellent exchange.”

“We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to construct bridges between governments and between peoples,” Sheinbaum added.

While the state of the proposed tariffs remained ambiguous, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social account that this was “effectively closing our Southern Border.” He called it a “very productive exchange.”

The swap between the two leaders appeared to confirm for Trump the worth of threatening to disrupt trade with import taxes. His initial social media post moved monetary markets and gave him a response he was quick to describe as a triumph. Even if the proposed tariffs fall short to materialize, Trump can inform supporters that the mere possibility of them is an effective policy tool and continue to depend on tariff threats.

Sheinbaum wrote on social media that the leaders “discussed Mexico’s schedule on migration issues, and I told him the caravans are not reaching the northern (U.S.) border, because Mexico is taking worry of them.”

“We also talked about reinforcing cooperation on safety issues, within the framework of our sovereignty, and the campaign we are carrying out to prevent fentanyl consumption,” she said.

Illegal migration across the Mexico border is down in part because the Biden administration secured some stepped-up cooperation from Mexico — the sort Trump seems to be celebrating.

Arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped 40% from an all-period high in December. U.S. officials mostly capitalization Mexican vigilance around rail yards and highway checkpoints.

Driven by mounting pressure from the U.S. to block migrants going north, in the history few years Mexican authorities have turned to rounding them up across the country and sending them to southern Mexico, in a schedule seen by experts as an attempt to wear migrants out until they provide up.

Neither side clarified the position of the tariffs. But their implementation could fuel higher prices and leisurely financial expansion, potentially blowing up the trade agreement among the U.S., Canada and Mexico that was finalized in 2020 during Trump’s previous period in the White House.

Trump on Monday said he would impose a 25% levy on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders upon taking office on Jan. 20. He also proposed an additional 10% tariff on China tied to its exporting of materials used in the production of fentanyl.

In announcing his plans, he railed against the flow of fentanyl and migrants crossing into the U.S. illegally, even though southern border apprehensions have been hovering near four-year lows.

On Wednesday, Trump also posted that he plans a large scale ad campaign to explain “how impoverished Fentanyl is for people to use,” predicting it would educate people on “how really impoverished the horror of this Drug is.”

The dangerously powerful opioid was developed to treat intense pain from ailments like cancer but has increasingly been mixed with other drugs in the illicit drug supply.

Through September, the United States has imported $378.9 billion in goods from Mexico, $322.2 billion from China and $309.3 billion from Canada.

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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in recent York and Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this update.