‘One tariff will be met with another in response’: Mexican president to Trump

MEXICO CITY

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded Tuesday to threats by US President-elect Donald Trump to impose a whopping tariff on all Mexican goods if migration and drug trafficking are not averted.

The recently sworn-in Mexican president marked the first time she has directly dealt with the temper of her future counterpart.

Sheinbaum shared a letter to Trump she wrote in which she stressed the need for cooperation while promising tariffs of her own.

"President Trump, it is not with threats or tariffs that the migration phenomenon or drug consumption in the United States will be addressed. What is needed is cooperation and mutual understanding to tackle these great challenges. One tariff will be met with another in response, and so on, until we put at risk our common businesses," she read from the letter.

Mexico has risen as the US leading trading partner, amounting to 83% of Mexico's exports, corresponding to $338 billion in 2024, according to the Bank of Mexico. The tariffs would mark a serious threat to both economies.

Trump promised a radical take on trade with his country’s biggest commercial partner and southern neighbor, threatening a 25% tariff on all imported goods.

The threat was promised as a measure to curb immigration and drug trafficking. He took to Truth Social, his social media platform, to demand that Mexico and Canada ramp up efforts to curb the drug trade and immigration. "It is time for them to pay a very big price!" said Trump.

The soon-to-be president, however, has vowed that his administration would end drug trafficking and tackle cartels operating in Mexico, which he has blamed for the hundreds of thousands of US deaths from fentanyl consumption.

While the tariffs are supposedly geared toward ending fentanyl consumption in the US, for Sheinbaum, the demand for synthetic opioids by US users, and the supply of firearms by American gun manufacturers are also responsible for the bloodshed and the power of the cartel in Mexico.

"You must also be aware of the illegal arms trafficking that reaches my country from the United States. Seventy percent of the illegal weapons seized from criminals in Mexico come from your country. We do not produce the weapons, we do not consume the synthetic drugs. Unfortunately, we are the ones who pay with lives due to the demand for drugs in your country," said Sheinbaum.