By María Virza and Megan Janetsky
Mexico City (AP) – The president of Mexico said on Tuesday that the country would respond to the 25% prices imposed by the United States with reprisals on American products, with future details.
Mexico will announce the targeted products and other measures on Sunday during a central place in Mexico Central, a delay that suggests that Mexico hopes to defuse the trade war launched by US President Donald Trump.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said she and Trump agreed to have a call this week, probably Thursday, “so we’re going to wait.” The Mexican government has said since January that it had a ready plan for this scenario.
“There is no reason or reason or justification that supports this decision which will affect our people and our nations,” added Sheinbaum.
China and Canada responded immediately with measures on Tuesday.
Some 80% of Mexico exports go to the United States, which is part of more than $ 800 billion in commerce between countries last year.
Sheinbaum called “offensive, defamatory and without support” The allegations of the White House that Mexican drug traffickers persist due to an “intolerable relationship” with the Mexican government. Trump said that he was aiming for Mexico to force him to rage against migrants and drugs entering the United States
She listed the achievements of her young administration against Mexico’s drug cartels, in particular by entering more than a ton of fentanyl and driving 329 methamphetamine laboratories. She also noted that Mexico had sent the 29 US figures for the drug cartel he had asked for last week.
“It is inconceivable that they do not reflect on the damage that this will cause to citizens and companies in the United States,” said Sheinbaum. “No one wins with this decision.”
The president of Mexico also noted that Trump said on Monday that he respected her, and she said that she also respected him: “The thing was to find a way to collaborate, to coordinate without subordinate anyone for the benefit of our people.”
Trade experts have expressed their doubts about the duration of Trump’s prices, saying that they would increase the prices of American consumers, including Trump’s base.
“This will not do anything to help food inflation in the United States,” said Timothy Wise, an agricultural trade expert between Mexico and the United States “I don’t see it as sustainable. I cannot find plausible that the people of the company surrounding Trump will sit and allow him to destroy their foreign markets. »»
Gabriela Siller, economic analyst of the Mexican financial group Banco Base, said that in the short term, prices could stimulate inflation, disrupt economic trade flows and slow economic growth of the two countries.
But as she looked at the drop in Mexican peso in gradual decline, she also noted that “the exchange rate and volatility have not soared, because the market speculates that the US government could soon withdraw prices.”
Mexico has the most to lose in a trade war with the United States, and economists say that prolonged prices would plunge Mexico’s economy into a recession.
But for now, Sheinbaum’s approval ratings in Mexico are high. She has attracted nationalist feeling since Trump took up his duties, frequently invoking the sovereignty of Mexico, promising that he will negotiate an equal position and repel the change of name of Trump from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
The Sunday public event announcing the reprisals of Mexico will seek to grasp the popularity of Sheinbaum and the sense of national unity.
However, it was little comfort for those whose livelihoods could be the most affected.
At the American-Mexican border, the 58-year-old truck driver, Carlos Ponce, led his truck filled with Ciudad Juares automobile parts in El Paso, Texas, as he does for decades. But he and many others along the border held their breath.
“Things could change radically,” said Ponce, who feared that carriers like him will lose their jobs or have to travel longer distances in sea ports while Mexican manufacturers are looking for other business partners.
Long truck lines marked the border crossing of Ciudad Juarez in front of the prices.
“There are many things that are not yet defined and I am sure they will be quickly redefined,” said Alan Russell, TECMA manager, an American company that helps manufacturing companies to settle in places like Ciudad Juarez.
He expressed his doubt about Trump’s account that prices push American companies to return to the United States to install factories: “No one will move their factory until they have a certainty.”
Russell said that last week, his company had helped a new manufacturer who moved from North Carolina to Mexico, because he was unable to find enough workers.
Manuel Sotelo, whose fleet of trucks moves products on the other side of the border every day, was shocked that the prices entered into force after the marches of the president of Mexico took to comply with American requests to reprimand the cartels and strengthen the border. They include sending 10,000 soldiers to the border.
“Mexico has made huge jumps and its limits,” said Sotelo, a supporter of Trump who has a Bobblehead doll on his office. “I really thought yesterday afternoon or last night, Trump would have reversed the course.”
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
