Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum asked on Saturday (1) to implement tariff and non -tariff measures in response to US decision to impose 25% tariffs on all products from Mexico, marking the apparent start of a trade war between the two countries.
In an X post, Sheinbaum said his government, but Mexico was forced to respond in the same coin.
“I instruct my economy minister to implement plan B we are working on, which includes tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico’s interests,” sheinbaum posted, without detail which US products will target. .
They are by far the most important foreign market in Mexico, while Mexico in 2023 exceeded China to become the main destination of US exports.
Mexico has prepared possible retaliatory tariffs against US imports, ranging from 5% to 20% on pork, cheese, fresh products, as well as manufactured steel and aluminum, according to sources familiar with the subject. The auto industry would initially be exempt, they said.
US exports to Mexico represented more than $ 322 billion in 2023, showed Cenus Bureau data, while the US imported more than $ 475 billion in Mexican products.
In his post, Sheinbaum also rejected as “slander” the White House’s claim that drug trafficking has an alliance with the Mexican government, a point used by the administration of President Donald Trump to explain why he imposed tariffs.
Trump said the fees against Mexico is due to the country’s failure to prevent Fentanil from entering the United States, as well as what he describes as an uncontrolled migration.
Sheinbaum has also praised his government’s registration since taking office in October – seizing 20 million doses of the fentanyl deadly synthetic opioid, and stops more than 10,0000 drug trafficking individuals.
