Mexico Announces Retaliatory Tariffs Against US Imports, Seeks to Establish Working Group

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum attend a military parade commemorating the 114th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution at the Zocalo square in Mexico City, on November 20, 2024. Rodrigo Oropeza/AFP via Getty Images

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced retaliatory tariffs against the United States Saturday night after President Donald Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on Mexican imports into the United States earlier in the evening.

Sheinbaum said in a statement posted to social media platform X that she has directed her Secretary of Economy to implement “tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico’s interests.”

She called the White House’s accusations that her government was working in alliance with drug trafficking cartels “slander.”

She said the tariffs were her “Plan B,” and proposed to Trump to “establish a working group with our best public health and security teams.”

“Problems are not resolved by imposing tariffs, but by talking and dialoguing, as we did in recent weeks with your State Department to address the phenomenon of migration; in our case, with respect for human rights,” she said.

Earlier on Saturday, Trump imposed tariffs against Mexico, Canada, and China via the International Emergency Economic Powers Act “because of the major threat of illegal aliens and deadly drugs killing our citizens, including fentanyl.”

“We need to protect Americans, and it is my duty as President to ensure the safety of all. I made a promise on my Campaign to stop the flood of illegal aliens and drugs from pouring across our Borders, and Americans overwhelmingly voted in favor of it,” Trump posted on Truth Social after signing the order Saturday evening.

Sheinbaum blamed the U.S. government for failing to end illegal sales of fentanyl on its streets. Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45, according to U.S. government data.

Sheinbaum told Washington to end the black market for the drug and “take care of their young people.”

“If the United States government and its agencies wanted to address the serious consumption of fentanyl in their country, they could, for example, combat the sale of narcotics on the streets of their main cities, which they do not do, and the money laundering generated by this illegal activity that has done so much harm to their population,” the post read.