
Reporting from Mexico City
In essence, the imposition of 25% tariffs on Mexican goods has been expected by the Mexican government from the moment Donald Trump won the presidency. In recent days, President Claudia Sheinbaum has called for “cool heads” in dealing with the trade dispute – and with Washington more generally – under President Trump.
On Friday, her Finance Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, a former foreign minister with first-hand experience of the first Trump administration, suggested tariffs would be more harmful to the US given it imports everything from avocados to car parts from Mexico. The Mexican government considers a trade war as unwelcome, unwise and avoidable, especially between supposedly friendly neighbours and close allies.
Yet despite the apparent calm in Mexico City, there will no doubt be some dismay at the aggressive tone of the statement from the White House. It accuses the Sheinbaum government of having “an intolerable alliance” with Mexican drug trafficking organisations and of providing “safe havens for the cartels to engage in the manufacturing and transportation of dangerous narcotics”.
Few Mexicans are under any illusions of the extent of the complicity between corrupt local and state forces and politicians and the country’s cartels.
But Sheinbaum has only been in office since October and has chosen as her Public Security Minister, Omar Garcia Harfuch, a former police officer with strong credentials for the role.
The Mexican government might have hoped for a different start to the dialogue with the US on the toughest issues of their shared border – namely undocumented immigration and fentanyl trafficking. But the Trump administration, and Trump himself, believes tariffs are an effective way to bring Mexico to the negotiating table – with Washington in the dominant position.