Mexican president tears into Donald Trump after tariff threat

Mexican Claudia Sheinbaum has called US president-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 25 per cent tariff on goods from her county “unacceptable”.

President Claudia Sheinbaum’s response comes after Trump wrote on his Truth Social account that he will sign “all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25 per cent tariff on all products coming into the United States” in the wake of an alleged “caravan coming from Mexico, composed of thousands of people” which will bring “crime and drugs at levels never seen before”.

He has also promised to levy an additional 10 per cent on goods from China.

Tariffs are taxes put on imported goods from other nations and Trump mentioned his plans consistently on the campaign trail.

The tariffs would “remain in effect until such time as drugs, in particular fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country,” Trump added.

Sheinbaum, the leader of the left-wing Morena Party, wrote in her response: “It is in our country that lives are lost to the violence resulting from meeting the drug demand in yours. Migration and drug consumption in the United States cannot be addressed through threats or tariffs. What is needed is co-operation and mutual understanding to tackle these significant challenges.”

She threatened “a response in kind… one tariff will follow another until we put at risk our shared enterprises”, adding: “Yes, shared. For instance, among Mexico’s main exporters to the United States are [car manufacturers] General Motors, Stellantis and Ford Motor Company, which arrived in Mexico 80 years ago.

“Why impose a tariff that would jeopardise them? Such a measure would be unacceptable and would lead to inflation and job losses in both the United States and Mexico.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responds to Trump's call for a 25% tariff

"We do not produce these weapons, nor do we consume synthetic drugs. Tragically, it is in our country that lives are lost to the violence resulting from meeting the drug demand in yours." pic.twitter.com/bGK7kgqInD

— Matthew Choi (@matthewichoi) November 26, 2024

Sheinbaum, who has been in office since October, said she was “convinced that North America’s economic strength lies in maintaining our trade partnership” because it “allows us to remain competitive against other economic blocs”.

She went on to say: “For this reason, dialogue is the best path to understanding, peace and prosperity for our nations. I hope our teams can meet soon to continue building joint solutions.”

Mexico was not the only country to weigh in on the threat of tariffs.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington DC told the BBC: “No one will win a trade war or a tariff war… co-operation is mutually beneficial in nature” to the two economic superpowers.

Meanwhile, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau reportedly had a meeting with Trump following the announcement and said his country was prepared to work on the economic relationship with the incoming US administration in constructive ways.

“This is a relationship we know takes a certain amount of working on, and that’s what we’ll do,” Trudeau told reporters.

According to data, Canada, Mexico and China are the US’ biggest trading partners.

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