Mexico Says It Will Retaliate With Tariffs, China to File Lawsuit With WTO

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 that her administration will implement 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. He also imposed a 25 percent levy on Canada and 10 percent on China.

The U.S. tariffs are scheduled to start on Feb. 4.

Mexico did not release any details on its tariff policy, but 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.”

Meanwhile, China’s commerce ministry said on Sunday it will file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and take countermeasures to “safeguard its rights and interests.”

Trump put China on notice about his expectations for cooperation with a trade deal in his first term, and recently expressed disappointment that the Biden administration did not follow up on Beijing’s promise to “issue the death penalty to people that make fentanyl.”

“That would have stopped it,” Trump said on his third day back in office. “But we’ll have to stop it with tariffs.”

Trump said he used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose the tariffs,“because of the major threat of illegal aliens and deadly drugs killing our citizens, including fentanyl.”

China’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that the United States needs to “solve its own fentanyl issue.”

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

She said Mexico’s 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 said he was following through on a campaign promise.

“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 tariff orders Saturday.

Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45, according to U.S. government data.

Sheinbaum blamed the U.S. government for failing to end illegal sales of fentanyl on its streets.

She 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,” her post read.

Trump noted in his emergency order that he already declared a national emergency at the southern border on his first day in office, “to finally end the public health crisis caused by opioid use and addiction,” but that this “will not happen unless the compliance and cooperation of the government of Mexico is assured.”

He also noted that since the end of his first term, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has recorded at least a 300 percent increase illegal immigrant apprehensions at the border.

“Mexico has played a central role in these challenges, including by failing to devote sufficient attention and resources to meaningfully stem the tide of unlawful migration and illicit drugs,” Trump said.

According to the White House, the tariffs will “remain in place until Mexico cooperates with the United States in the fight against drug trafficking and on border security.”

The tariffs will also bring in billions in new revenue to the U.S. government, the White House said, pointing to the effectiveness of Trump’s first-term tariffs, continued by President Joe Biden, on China-made goods to the tune of $40 billion in revenue each year.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday also announced retaliatory tariffs on its top trading partner, starting with tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. imports on Feb. 4. Trudeau said he was in communication with Sheinbaum, “working together to face these tariffs.”

According to U.S. government data, U.S. goods exports to Mexico in 2022 accounted for 15.7 percent of all merchandise exports, coming behind exports to Canada and ahead of China, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Mexico has long enjoyed a trade surplus in goods with the United States, which the Office of the U.S. trade Representative reported in 2022 stood at $130.5 billion, and only increasing year by year. That year, U.S. goods exports were worth $324.3 billion; and Mexican exports worth $454.8 billion.

U.S. goods exports to Mexico are dominated by processing and manufacturing equipment, and cleaning and sanitizing products; while Mexico’s exports are dominated by computers, home appliances, cars and auto parts, and agricultural goods such as vegetables, fruit, and distilled spirits.