Summary
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum suggested imposing retaliatory tariffs if Trump follows through on his threat of 25% import duties on Mexican goods.
Sheinbaum emphasized Mexico’s efforts to curb migration and drug trafficking, framing fentanyl as a U.S. public health issue and criticizing U.S. spending priorities.
She warned tariffs could harm both nations’ economies, especially their intertwined auto industries, and stressed the importance of dialogue.
Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada, citing concerns about drug and migrant flows, but the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement prohibits such actions.
The current agreement (known as USMCA or NAFTA 2.0) was signed in 2018 and took effect in 2020. Trump wants to use the 6-year renegotiation provision that is in the deal to fuck with Canada and Mexico even more than the current deal does.
That explains why Canada is being treated in the same way that Mexico, if the US wants to apply the tarifs in the USMCA treat it had to be applied to both
I’m not sure that it’s mandatory (within the agreement) that tariffs must be unilateral. I suspect the orange asshole is simply doing it to both nations so that he appears to be taking a strong stance on the “Buy America” mantra.