Mexico's president hits back at Trump's boast: Our position is 'not to close borders'
Daniel Hampton
November 27, 2024
Claudia Sheinbaum, the presidential candidate of the ruling MORENA party, reacts as she addresses her supporters after winning the election, in Mexico City, Mexico June 3. REUTERS/Raquel Cunha
The president of Mexico has disputed President-elect Donald Trump's account of their conversation, specifically denying his claim that Mexico will effectively close the southern Border.
Trump boasted Wednesday that Mexico agreed to help him close the U.S.-Mexico border following his threats to levy a significant tariff on the country.
"Just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo," Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday night. "She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border."
In a separate follow-up post, he repeated that "Mexico will stop people from going to our Southern Border, effective immediately."
"THIS WILL GO A LONG WAY TOWARD STOPPING THE ILLEGAL INVASION OF THE USA. Thank you!!!" posted Trump.
But Sheinbaum Pardo took to X to refute Trump's claim. She insisted she explained to Trump Mexico's "comprehensive strategy" to address illegal immigration while respecting human rights.
"Thanks to this, migrants and caravans are assisted before they reach the border," she said. "We reiterate that Mexico's position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples."
Her remarks came hours after she called the discussion an "excellent conversation."
"We discussed Mexico's strategy on the migration phenomenon and I shared that caravans are not arriving at the northern border because they are being taken care of in Mexico," she wrote on X. "We also discussed strengthening collaboration on security issues within the framework of our sovereignty and the campaign we are carrying out in the country to prevent the consumption of fentanyl."
Mexico has made significant strides in reducing the flow of migrants in recent years. Illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border fell to a three-year low, with the Border Patrol processing about 84,000 migrants in June — the lowest monthly level since President Joe Biden took office.
From fiscal year 2021 through 2024, authorities encountered unauthorized migrants about 9.4 million times — three times as many as under Trump.
Daniel Hampton
November 27, 2024
Claudia Sheinbaum, the presidential candidate of the ruling MORENA party, reacts as she addresses her supporters after winning the election, in Mexico City, Mexico June 3. REUTERS/Raquel Cunha
The president of Mexico has disputed President-elect Donald Trump's account of their conversation, specifically denying his claim that Mexico will effectively close the southern Border.
Trump boasted Wednesday that Mexico agreed to help him close the U.S.-Mexico border following his threats to levy a significant tariff on the country.
"Just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo," Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday night. "She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border."
In a separate follow-up post, he repeated that "Mexico will stop people from going to our Southern Border, effective immediately."
"THIS WILL GO A LONG WAY TOWARD STOPPING THE ILLEGAL INVASION OF THE USA. Thank you!!!" posted Trump.
But Sheinbaum Pardo took to X to refute Trump's claim. She insisted she explained to Trump Mexico's "comprehensive strategy" to address illegal immigration while respecting human rights.
"Thanks to this, migrants and caravans are assisted before they reach the border," she said. "We reiterate that Mexico's position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples."
Her remarks came hours after she called the discussion an "excellent conversation."
"We discussed Mexico's strategy on the migration phenomenon and I shared that caravans are not arriving at the northern border because they are being taken care of in Mexico," she wrote on X. "We also discussed strengthening collaboration on security issues within the framework of our sovereignty and the campaign we are carrying out in the country to prevent the consumption of fentanyl."
Mexico has made significant strides in reducing the flow of migrants in recent years. Illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border fell to a three-year low, with the Border Patrol processing about 84,000 migrants in June — the lowest monthly level since President Joe Biden took office.
From fiscal year 2021 through 2024, authorities encountered unauthorized migrants about 9.4 million times — three times as many as under Trump.
Daniel Hampton
November 27, 2024
US President-elect Donald Trump said he would charge 25 percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports - Copyright POOL/AFP/File ALLISON ROBBERT
Social media critics collectively laughed at Donald Trump on Wednesday night after the president-elect appeared to get a brutal fact-check from the president of Mexico.
Trump bragged earlier in the day that Mexico agreed to help him close the U.S.-Mexico border following his threats to levy a significant tariff on the country.
"Just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo," Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday night. "She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border."
In a separate follow-up post, he repeated that "Mexico will stop people from going to our Southern Border, effective immediately."
"THIS WILL GO A LONG WAY TOWARD STOPPING THE ILLEGAL INVASION OF THE USA. Thank you!!!" posted Trump.
Sheinbaum Pardo refuted Trump's claim on X, however, insisting she explained Mexico's comprehensive strategy to address illegal immigration while respecting human rights.
"Thanks to this, migrants and caravans are assisted before they reach the border," she said. "We reiterate that Mexico's position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples."
Critics of the president-elect seized on Sheinbaum Pardo's clapback.
"Trump thinks he convinced the President of Mexico to stop all migration across the border LOL," Mike Nellis, a former senior adviser to Kamala Harris, wrote on Bluesky.
Political commentator and MSNBC contributor Brian Tyler Cohen jabbed: "Trump: Mexico is 'effectively closing our southern border.' Mexico: 'no plan to close border.'"
"All it took was one call. Donny deals," joked Sam Stein, a journalist for The Bulwark and MSNBC.
"So Mexico agrees to do the thing it's already been doing, and Trump claims victory. Sounds about right," quipped Catherine Rampell, an economics columnist for The Washington Post.
Rampell added that Mexico has invested "huge resources" in the last year to prevent migrants from reaching the border. This includes military patrols, highway checkpoints, and busing migrants en masse from the northern part of the country to the south.
"Key reason why illegal border crossings into US are [down] 75%," she said.
Rampell slammed Republican "talking points" about the border crisis as "woefully out of date."
Mexico says Trump tariffs would cost 400,000 US jobs
By AFP
November 27, 2024
Mexico said Wednesday the United States will be shooting itself in the foot if President-elect Donald Trump implements his threats to impose 25-percent tariffs on Mexican imports.
Trump on Monday fired the warning shot in a looming trade war with the top three US trading partners by threatening to impose huge tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China if they failed to stop illegal migration and drug smuggling into the United States.
He said he would charge 25 percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports and 10 percent on Chinese goods “above any additional tariffs” on the world’s second-biggest economy.
Mexico’s Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard warned that the cost to US companies of the tariffs on Mexico would be “huge.”
“Around 400,000 jobs will be lost” in the United States, he said, citing a study based on figures from US carmakers that manufacture in Mexico.
He added the tariffs would also hit US consumers hard.
Ebrard cited the US market for pickup trucks, most of which are manufactured in Mexico, as an example, claiming the tariffs would add $3,000 to the cost of a new vehicle.
“The impact of this measure will chiefly be felt by consumers in the United States… That is why we say that it would be a shot in the foot,” he said, speaking alongside President Claudia Sheinbaum during her regular morning conference.
Mexico and China have been particularly vociferous in their opposition to Trump’s threats of a trade war from day one of his second presidential term, which begins on January 20.
Sheinbaum has declared the threats “unacceptable” and pointed out that Mexico’s drug cartels exist mainly to serve drug use in the United States.
She has written to Trump to propose a meeting, which she says would happen “ideally” before he takes office.
China has warned that “no one will win a trade war.”
During his first term as president, Trump launched full-blown trade hostilities with Beijing, imposing significant tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods.
China responded with retaliatory tariffs on American products, particularly affecting US farmers.
The United States, Mexico and Canada are tied to a three-decade-old largely duty-free trade agreement, called the USMCA, that was renegotiated under Trump after he complained that US businesses, especially automakers, were losing out.
By AFP
November 27, 2024
Mexico said Wednesday the United States will be shooting itself in the foot if President-elect Donald Trump implements his threats to impose 25-percent tariffs on Mexican imports.
Trump on Monday fired the warning shot in a looming trade war with the top three US trading partners by threatening to impose huge tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China if they failed to stop illegal migration and drug smuggling into the United States.
He said he would charge 25 percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports and 10 percent on Chinese goods “above any additional tariffs” on the world’s second-biggest economy.
Mexico’s Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard warned that the cost to US companies of the tariffs on Mexico would be “huge.”
“Around 400,000 jobs will be lost” in the United States, he said, citing a study based on figures from US carmakers that manufacture in Mexico.
He added the tariffs would also hit US consumers hard.
Ebrard cited the US market for pickup trucks, most of which are manufactured in Mexico, as an example, claiming the tariffs would add $3,000 to the cost of a new vehicle.
“The impact of this measure will chiefly be felt by consumers in the United States… That is why we say that it would be a shot in the foot,” he said, speaking alongside President Claudia Sheinbaum during her regular morning conference.
Mexico and China have been particularly vociferous in their opposition to Trump’s threats of a trade war from day one of his second presidential term, which begins on January 20.
Sheinbaum has declared the threats “unacceptable” and pointed out that Mexico’s drug cartels exist mainly to serve drug use in the United States.
She has written to Trump to propose a meeting, which she says would happen “ideally” before he takes office.
China has warned that “no one will win a trade war.”
During his first term as president, Trump launched full-blown trade hostilities with Beijing, imposing significant tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods.
China responded with retaliatory tariffs on American products, particularly affecting US farmers.
The United States, Mexico and Canada are tied to a three-decade-old largely duty-free trade agreement, called the USMCA, that was renegotiated under Trump after he complained that US businesses, especially automakers, were losing out.
Brad Reed
November 27, 2024
RAW STORY
Although President-elect Donald Trump tried to market himself as a "peace candidate" during the 2024 campaign, it seems that he and his foreign policy advisers are dead set on sending at least some members of the American military into Mexico.
Rolling Stone reports that Trump and his team are considering a "soft invasion" of Mexico that would use special forces to target drug labs and cartels in Mexico.
This is a step that has never been taken in the past given how much the United States relies upon Mexico for cooperation in terms of national security, but Trump at the moment appears to be ready to pull the trigger on an operation that could spark a major diplomatic crisis with one of America's biggest trading partners.
“How much should we invade Mexico?” one Trump transition member says the incoming administration is asking. “That is the question.”
ALSO READ: 'C'mon': CNN's Jim Acosta confronts MAGA lawmaker in 'testy' interview
Another Trump insider, meanwhile, tells the publication that it's "unclear how far he’ll go on this one" but then adds that "if things don’t change, the president still believes it’s necessary to take some kind of military action against these killers."
The idea of launching strikes within Mexico has been dismissed in the past even by many MAGA-friendly Republicans.
As conservative Rich Lowry wrote for Politico just last year, "We aren’t going to drone or raid our way to a secure Southern border."
"The frustrating reality is that there is no alternative to working with the Mexican government, which is going to be protective of its territory and national pride, especially vis-a-vis the giant to its north," Lowry added.
Although President-elect Donald Trump tried to market himself as a "peace candidate" during the 2024 campaign, it seems that he and his foreign policy advisers are dead set on sending at least some members of the American military into Mexico.
Rolling Stone reports that Trump and his team are considering a "soft invasion" of Mexico that would use special forces to target drug labs and cartels in Mexico.
This is a step that has never been taken in the past given how much the United States relies upon Mexico for cooperation in terms of national security, but Trump at the moment appears to be ready to pull the trigger on an operation that could spark a major diplomatic crisis with one of America's biggest trading partners.
“How much should we invade Mexico?” one Trump transition member says the incoming administration is asking. “That is the question.”
ALSO READ: 'C'mon': CNN's Jim Acosta confronts MAGA lawmaker in 'testy' interview
Another Trump insider, meanwhile, tells the publication that it's "unclear how far he’ll go on this one" but then adds that "if things don’t change, the president still believes it’s necessary to take some kind of military action against these killers."
The idea of launching strikes within Mexico has been dismissed in the past even by many MAGA-friendly Republicans.
As conservative Rich Lowry wrote for Politico just last year, "We aren’t going to drone or raid our way to a secure Southern border."
"The frustrating reality is that there is no alternative to working with the Mexican government, which is going to be protective of its territory and national pride, especially vis-a-vis the giant to its north," Lowry added.
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