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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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. carmakers that manufacture in Mexico.
He added the tariffs would also hit U.S. consumers hard.
Ebrard cited the U.S. 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 U.S. businesses, especially automakers, were losing out.
© 2024 AFP
62 Comments
Yrral
The Chinese will stop selling shoes and American, would go barefoot
Blacklabel
oh that’s not a biased survey at all lol
so how would 400,000 US citizens in America lose their jobs if manufacturing is brought back to….America?
well worth it! Consider it an investment in closing our borders to illegals, drugs, terrorists and crime.
Small price to pay if you can already afford a new car.
Underworld
Blacklabel
the tariffs would add $3,000 to the cost of a new vehicle.
Tariffs will have no effect on borders.
All it the tariffs will do is make goods more expensive for Americans and start a trade war.
Blacklabel
sure it will.
they only get tariffs if they don’t secure the border. Secure the border?
No tariffs.
sounds like Mexicans will lose jobs not Americans.
Blacklabel
It’s right here:
“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”
IF. So just do what is asked instead.
dagon
The Trump clan sure does like manufacturing their branded goods in China though.
Trump will initially benefit from the Biden economy, then MAGA voters will find out tariffs, mass deportations and corporate and billionaire tax cuts will not raise wages and level inflation.
plasticmonkey
Mexico and Canada must end all illegal migration and drug smuggling. Otherwise we'll tank our own economy.
Trump is such a stable genius.
dbsaiya
@Blacklabel - If your man trump had actually built the wall that Mexico was going to pay for in the first place, we wouldn't be in this position. The GOP controlled both houses and still couldn't get it done.
Underworld
Blacklabel
Tariffs will have no effect on borders.
Nah, instead they will start a trade war. Much easier.
bass4funk
Actually any products Mexico imports from the US and tarrifs we will match the tarrif.
Products that we import from Mexico will be have a tarrif.
This brings them to the negotiating table.
If they play hardball this incentivizes American companies to manufacture the product here.
You're going to say avocados.
They grow in Hawaii. USA first
Blacklabel
how? By Mexicans in Mexico who assemble cars being unable to do so and forcing the assembly in Detroit Michigan by US citizen auto workers? Sound great!
Blacklabel
Remind me, did Joe Biden remove all the China tariffs or did he keep most of them?
plasticmonkey
Dream on.
bass4funk
Absolutely
Jay
Oh spare us Mexico’s crystal ball predictions - this is just more Leftist fear-mongering from globalists who’d rather sell out American jobs to cartels and sweatshops than admit Trump’s tariffs actually put America first.
Jay
And while we're at it - how good was Justin Trudeau frantically calling Trump in a late-night jittery panic over these tariffs? Peak globalist comedy - nothing screams weak leader like a woke drama teacher begging for mercy from a real negotiator.
Maybe if Trudeau had spent less time virtue-signaling and more time defending Canada's interests, he wouldn't need to grovel at midnight. But hey, at least he didn't cry on the call this time… that we know of.
Yrral
Trump will crash the US economy,they are not gonna manufacture 1.25 products in America
Blacklabel
only Mexicans in Mexico can assemble cars from parts that are made in the USA?
US workers don’t have this ability to assemble what they manufactured?
bass4funk
Wrong, it’s just that some manufacturers are not in the U.S. anymore, so all the more reason to incentivize companies to come back or back and support companies to stay and build manufacturing plants in the U.S., even if the prices will be higher.
What?
Looking for that, more raises, better pay, better employment opportunities
On the contrary, check this out, It's shameful the lack of accountability - where are the promised EV charging stations, or alternate solution?
This was promised to Americans in Q4, 2021 by Pete Buttegeig
Hawaii just implemented their 2nd EV charging station - only took 3 years
Blacklabel
Or to prevent all this “catastrophe” simply secure the border on the Mexico and Canada side as asked.
instead of basically saying “Mexican drug cartels aren’t my problem” like Mexico lady did.
do what is requested and needed then no tariffs will be applied.
wallace
Trump's first socialist tax. It would cost $trillions to move US factories from Mexico to the US. It won't happen.
Blacklabel
trillions? Over what time frame, centuries?
This one only cost 1 billion and created 2500 American jobs last time.
nishikat
Mexico doesn't pay for the tariffs. The American shopper does. Proof: Japan has no tariffs and look how cheap it is (especially for Trump people living in Japan). American shoppers are happier in Japan (and this includes American Trump people in Japan) for obvious reasons. The US is expensive now and the Trump tariffs will make even more so.
American pharmaceuticals are a big problem in the USA. A lot of that stuff you see on American TV advertising is criminally illegal in Japan. We should start that and go for Medicare for all (like in Japan) and that will help with the extreme drug problem in the USA. Japan never had an opioid crisis like the USA and that crisis was created by big pharma and NOT the Mexicans.
Peter Neil
no companies repatriated to the u.s. when trump put the 25% tariff during his first term. well, maybe one or two.
the 10% more on china makes it 35% total, paid by the importing company.
manufacturing is not coming back to the u.s. companies moved overseas because the cost differential is so much. wholesale costs went down 80-90% sourcing overseas.
american companies and stockholders profited handsomely and american consumer prices stayed low for decades. the american companies will pass that higher wholesale or component cost on to taxpayers. don’t expect them to eat any of it.
bass4funk
It will happen. Tariffs are good against geopolitical enemies like Russia, China, Mexico. Tariffs will raise prices on Americans and that's why Trump needs to unleash the economy through energy independence, tax cuts, and regulation cuts to really offset the cost and make the dollar work harder than Americans.
Peter Neil
secure the border? crossings are low now. if securing the border was really important, trump would have not told republicans to kill the bipartisan bill for more people and resources on the u.s. side.
biden built more border wall than trump. trump’s cronies (bannon) turned the border wall into another criminal fraud.
Underworld
Blacklabel
She has a pretty solid point. Fentanyl isn't Mexico's problem, it's the US's problem. And it's not going to be solved at the border. America needs to go into rehab.
bass4funk
Texas side, yes, not the California side, but that will change in January.
Thank God, Trump killed it, it wouldn’t have stopped the flow, in fact, it was a poison pill, a Trojan horse:
-Allows 5,000 illegals per day
-Make catch and release the law.
-Allows 1,825,000 illegals per year
-$1 billion to NGOs to enable the mass migration
-Grant asylum claims (and thus American citizenship) to illegal aliens at the border without civil review by the immigration courts
-Government-funded lawyers for illegals
-Catch-and-release for any alien who says they intend to apply for asylum
-Does very little to ensure the deportation of undesirable illegals
-Provides sensitivity, racial and cultural training for border patrol agents
No, just built easily bendable slabs put together that the wind could blow it over. Biden could have just kept all of Trump’s border policies in place, no one told him to discontinue them
No, that was Biden and Myorkas, just ask any border patrol agent.
https://x.com/sues86453/status/1861568175424577583?s=46&t=YGWP_lcRZjddiWlx4QxURQ
Peter Neil
i’m all for tightening the border.
if american companies stopped hiring them long ago, there would be no demand for them. why would they come if there was no work?
american companies want them. it’s just greed because they can pay them less and threaten them to keep them in line.
the american government wants them because they use false social security numbers to pay taxes, social security and medicare taxes without ever having to pay anything out to them in the future.
it’s all about greed.
Blacklabel
That “but the bipartisan immigration bill” nonsense lost you the election.
nobody was buying that. No even legal immigrants.
so for drugs, leftists and Mexico lady seem to just blame the addict not the transporter and the seller.
Unless the addict is a prominent liberal, then addiction is a terrible disease and all crimes should be forgiven as under the influence of drugs.
Peter Neil
i wish those supporting these tariffs would please explain how they will not raise prices.
plasticmonkey
After months of complaining about high prices.
I thought the MAGA tariffs were about making China and other countries "pay" for their exports and bringing jobs back to America. Now they're just a threat to make sure the border is sealed? Do you people want the tariffs or not?
Mexico is an enemy now?
This is one weird economic theory.
Blacklabel
your team was totally fine with high prices as long as we could keep sending money to Ukraine. At any cost!
As similar, I would be totally ok with higher prices if as a result my country is safe and secure from gangs, cartels, murderers, terrorists and deadly fentanyl.
but that won’t even happen. Everything will work out just fine once Mexico does what they must do.
bass4funk
Yes
You don’t need to worry, they will figure it out.
In theory and unofficially , yes
As if the left have any theories, oh, wait, they just lost the election.
plasticmonkey
Said no one.
Some dude
Mexico hasn't quite grasped the MAGA mentality yet. It can be summed up very simply: Trump Can Do No Wrong.
If Trump's tariffs are indeed imposed, and Mexico's prediction turns out accurate, it won't be Trump's fault. It'll be Mexico's. Or Wile. E. Coyote's. Or Mr. Rogers'. Anyone but Trump.
If economists say that Trump's economic plans will damage the US economy and affect US consumers, it's the economists, not Trump, who are wrong.
If there's another pandemic and Trump (or Bobby Brainworms) declares that it's nothing more than a cold, then every medical expert in the US who warns about it is wrong.
Peter Neil
terrorists attacking the capitol were american.
american gangs and murderers kill many more americans and are selling that deadly fentanyl. 53% of all murders in america are committed by 6.5% of the population, many in gangs.
i’m all for expelling criminal aliens. i wouldn’t care if criminal americans were expelled. but right now illegal criminals are a thimble full compared to the olympic size swimming pool of american criminals.
bass4funk
When it comes to American first ideology, he can’t.
We won’t need to worry, Mexico will back down
And the economists that support Trump are wrong as well?
You meant, Kennedy
Again, Trump won’t be caught flat-footed this time.
Peter Neil
i don’t think trump will go through with all of his tariff threats. he’ll arrange a made-for-media/tv splash event to announce tariffs, but there will be many exceptions after businesses surround him with adults explaining the repercussions.
there are so many repercussions, let’s hope his short attention span can handle it.
bass4funk
You call almost 11 million illegals a “thimble??” Well, you just validated that my choice to put Trump back in office was completely justified. Anyway, I will be happy not to see what wretched Myorkas after Jan. 20th ever again. The man should be arrested on treasonous charges!
Peter Neil
no, i said illegal criminals, those who have committed violent crimes.
dagon
You didn't put Trump back in office. Elon Musk and Peter Thiel and Wall Street did.
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/article/2024/07/16/musk-and-thiel-put-their-fortunes-and-networks-to-work-for-trump-and-vance_6686376_13.html
bass4funk
I did and half of the nation
They did, Wall Street or you mean, the people that worked for WS?
itsonlyrocknroll
Tariffs are a highly potent political blunt instrument in the hands of an administration that weaponizes trade disputes as a means to effect behavioural as well as fundamental change
The consequences for Mexico, China, Canada are punitive proven well-known drawbacks for economic growth.
Supply chains will simply cease to function as the cost of retail products will force markets to remove produce from selves.
The reality is consumers will not buy products they cannot afford.
The fact that Mexico, China, Canada are screaming from the roof tops, is proof enough all three are fully aware that Donald Trump can and little doubt will follow through on his belligerence and threats.
The US people, the US electorate comprehensively voted to return Donald Trump into the Whitehouse oval office. Lessons Democrat's will have to take on board, learn
The sooner all and sundry come to terms with this fact the better.
bass4funk
He probably won’t have to because Mexico is not stupid
They did and their are many adults that explained to him why he should embrace tariffs
And more gains down the road,
Let’s hope Mexico is not suicidal
Chabbawanga
Hey, average Joe. You want even more inflation to go with with that cost of living crisis?
stormcrow
The Trump economy everyone remembers was actually the Obama economy Trump was lucky enough to inherit. The Biden economy was the broken down Trump economy Biden was in the process of correcting and is still a work in progress.
Trump is going to finish the job he started when he left office and an economy and country on life support. He doesn’t have the robust Obama economy to fall back on this time, so it’s probably going to be a struggle for him, especially with what he’s about to do.
Peter Neil
bass4funkToday 10:07 am JST
what are those gains?
still looking to hear how the tariffs will not increase consumer prices. for example, 88% of all pickup trucks sold in america are made in mexico.
bass4funk
A secure border, that is pretty much it.
If Mexico can completely secure their border, and stop pushing Fentanyl into the country at the pace it is doing now they don't have to worry about tariffs.
plasticmonkey
But you said you want tariffs. Or you don't want tariffs? Which?
If these tariffs are meant to strengthen the US economy (which is bull), why are they also being pushed as just a threat?
Makes no sense.
bass4funk
Breaking news!
Mexico just agreed to stop illegal migration into the US!
See? All Trump had to do was threaten them with the sheer thought of imposing tariffs, Mexico talked big, but in the end, they knew deep down inside that tariffs would crush them. Flawless victory once again.
Zaphod
Trump is not even in office, and the non-stop anti-Trump administration propaganda has already started. The entire Western media landscape is an embarrassment. Thankfully, many younger people have left the alphabet soup mainstream media bubble.
bass4funk
Oh, yes it did.
Hardly
Because it is a tool and it worked.
Blacklabel
all illegals have committed at least one crime.
what happens to illegals in let’s say, Japan? They get to stay until they commit a violent crime?
Blacklabel
if there are refusals to do what was asked, I want tariffs.
if American companies refuse to employ Americans in America, I want tariffs.
consequences are important.
do what they are told, tariffs aren’t needed.
Blacklabel
Despite all the bluster here from the failed Kamala supporters, Canada Justin sure picked up that phone within 2 hours.
why is that, exactly? What does he know that you don’t?
plasticmonkey
Link please.
bass4funk
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mexico-president-hails-excellent-trump-224853347.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
plasticmonkey
President-elect Donald Trump said that Mexico's leader had agreed to "stop" migration in talks Wednesday, effectively closing the southern US border, in claims that went further than his counterpart's account of a discussion about migration "strategy."
This is Trump’s claim. And most of what Trump claims is false.
bass4funk
Plastic, it is not a claim and most are not false, not sure where you are getting that, but anyway, he won, Mexico did the right thing, they definitely don't want to get hit with tariffs and that is the right and best choice they made.
plasticmonkey
It’s a claim by Trump. Read the story.
Burgerland
"Trump is not even in office, and the non-stop anti-Trump administration propaganda has already started. The entire Western media landscape is an embarrassment. Thankfully, many younger people have left the alphabet soup mainstream media bubble."
Exactly right.
"This is Trump’s claim. And most of what Trump claims is false."
That is what the leftist liberal crowd says. Apparently most of US voters disagreed with them and delivered the Trump landslide that wiped away the woke left.