American President-elect Donald Trump assured Wednesday that the Mexican president had agreed during a telephone exchange to “stop illegal immigration” towards the United States, which Claudia Sheinbaum denied shortly after, emphasizing that the position of Mexico “is not closing the borders.”
“She agreed to end immigration through Mexico and into the United States, thus closing our southern border,” declared the American president-elect on his Truth Social platform, referring to “a wonderful conversation with the new president of Mexico.
“Mexico will prevent people from traveling to our southern border, starting immediately,” he continued in another message, assuring that this measure would “go a long way to putting an end to the illegal invasion of the States -United”.
These comments were shortly afterwards contradicted by the Mexican president on the social network X.
During the exchange with Donald Trump, “I explained the global strategy that Mexico has followed to deal with the migratory phenomenon (…) We reiterate that Mexico's position is not to close the borders, but to build bridges between governments and between people,” wrote Claudia Sheinbaum.
Earlier, the left-wing leader had specified that she had had an “excellent discussion” with the Republican on the subjects of security and immigration.
“We discussed the Mexican strategy in the face of the phenomenon of migration,” she said on countries and the United States) because they are taken care of in Mexico.
This phone call comes a few days after the Republican tribune threatened Mexico, Canada and China with a sharp increase in customs tariffs.
Fentanyl
The president-elect confirmed Monday his desire to “impose customs duties of 25% on ALL products entering the United States” on Mexico and Canada, starting January 20, the day of his inauguration.
“This tax will remain in effect until drugs, especially fentanyl, and all illegal immigrants stop this invasion of our country!” he added.
The Mexican currency, which fell to its lowest level in 28 months on Tuesday in reaction to these announcements, rebounded strongly on Wednesday.
Caravans of migrants from several countries in South and Central America are crossing Mexico to reach the United States by land.
Donald Trump, who campaigned in 2016 promising to build a wall along the Mexican border, hammered out violent rhetoric towards migrants throughout the presidential campaign, accusing them of poisoning American “blood”, and has promised to put an end to what he describes as an “invasion”.
The Mexican president said Wednesday that she had spoken with him about strengthening “collaboration on security issues” and a campaign in Mexico “to prevent the consumption of fentanyl.”
Donald Trump, for his part, spoke of a discussion on “what can be done to stop the massive influx of drugs into the United States, as well as the consumption of these drugs by Americans.”
Fentanyl is a synthetic drug “approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin,” according to the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
According to Washington, fentanyl, often produced in Mexico with chemical compounds notably from China, causes more than 70,000 overdose deaths each year on American soil.
“Bullet in the foot”
Before this telephone call, the Mexican president had warned her future American counterpart of the consequences of her shock announcements: “President Trump, it is not through threats or customs tariffs that you are going to stop the phenomenon of immigration, nor the drug use in the United States,” she said in a letter.
Claudia Sheinbaum had threatened to in turn increase Mexican customs tariffs on American products, deploring that this trade war threatens competitiveness, inflation and employment in North America.
“I am sure that there will be an agreement with the United States and President Trump,” assured the president.
The United States would be “shooting itself in the foot” with the 25% increase in customs tariffs on Mexican exports, Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Wednesday.
“The impact on businesses would be enormous,” he added to the press, estimating that 400,000 jobs would be threatened in the United States.
Mexico, more than 83% of whose exports go to the United States, is a member of the North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Canada (USMCA).
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