United States President Donald Trump said Sunday that his administration would impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, including those from Mexico and Canada.
“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff. Aluminum too,” he said.
At her Monday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged Trump’s remarks, but said that her government was waiting for a formal announcement on the proposed tariffs from the U.S. government.
Trump signed an executive order to implement 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to the U.S. on Monday afternoon.
At her Monday mañanera, Sheinbaum also spoke about the United States’ responsibility in the joint fight against drugs, and stressed that her government wouldn’t “distance” itself from its predecessor.
Sheinbaum tight-lipped on how Mexico will respond to US tariffs on steel, aluminum
A reporter asked the president about Trump’s declaration on Sunday that the United States would impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports.
“We’re going to wait for the announcement … and from there we’ll take our decisions,” Sheinbaum said.
She said she would keep a “cool head” as she waited for Trump’s formal tariff announcement.
Mexico is a major steel supplier to the United States, meaning that tariffs would be painful for Mexican manufacturers of the alloy.
Trump imposed tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum in 2018 during his first term as president, prompting Mexico to implement a range of retaliatory measures including duties on U.S. pork, apples and bourbon. The tariffs were lifted in 2019.
Last Monday, Trump agreed to pause planned 25% tariffs on all Mexican exports to the United States after Sheinbaum committed to deploying 10,000 National Guard troops to the northern border to combat the flow of drugs and migrants to the U.S.
Sheinbaum: The US ‘has to do its part’ in the fight against drugs
“Drug trafficking has to do with demand,” Sheinbaum told reporters when asked a question about fentanyl production in Mexico.
“In other words, there is demand for … a drug and there are those who supply that drug,” she said.
“… Our objective is to reduce violence in the country and in that process also reduce the production and distribution of drugs. … The United States has to do its part in the United States: attend to the public health issue of the use of drugs and also deal with the distribution of drugs in their territory,” Sheinbaum said.
The president also wants action from the United States to stem the flow of firearms to Mexico.
As part of the deal she reached with Trump last Monday, Sheinbaum said that the United States had committed to “work to avoid the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico.”
‘We won’t distance ourselves from’ the López Obrador administration, president says
Asked about former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” security strategy and whether her government was continuing it, Sheinbaum jumped to the defense of her political mentor.
“We’re always going to defend President López Obrador, no one should have the slightest doubt,” the president said.
“Why? Because he was, he is, … a great president. We’re always going to defend him, let no one be mistaken. We’re part of the same movement,” Sheinbaum said.
She said that opposition parties want her government to distance itself from its predecessor, but pledged it wouldn’t do so.
“We won’t distance ourselves,” Sheinbaum said.
She declined to say that her government is perpetuating the “hugs, not bullets” security approach, but noted that attention to the root causes of crime through welfare and social programs — the “hugs” part of López Obrador’s strategy — is one of the four pillars of the federal security strategy.
Probed as to whether the current strategy is “different” from that of AMLO, Sheinbaum responded:
“You want to get a declaration out of me that I’m not going to give you.”
There was speculation shortly after Sheinbaum took office that the current federal government had abandoned the “not bullets” component of AMLO’s security strategy given that federal security forces had used lethal force against civilian gunmen and others on a number of occasions.
The president said Monday that her government is providing “education, culture, sport, employment and rights” to young people and is not engaging in “wars, like those of Calderón.”
That was a reference to the militarized war on drug cartels that former president Felipe Calderón launched shortly after he took office in 2006.
Sheinbaum, like López Obrador, blames the Calderón administration for unleashing, with its war on cartels, the high levels of violence that continue to plague Mexico today.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
Calderon drew the line and took on the cartels. It was unpleasant and bloody but necessary. Nieto pretended it wasn’t a problem like AMLO. AMLO put his head in the sand and tolerated them; the cartels grew in power, influence, and violence directly attacking reporters and politicians. They increased their extortion business and people trafficking. This is a huge national problem that needs cooperation from both sides of the border and not being intimidated by the cartels. Trump needs to ban gun sales from the 9000 gun shops on the border.
Sheinbaum may have a hard lesson to learn. This problem can not be ignored.
The US has a constitutional right to bear arms. Trump can’t close 9,000 gun shops on the border and would never do so. Attacking the problem where the cartels live in Mexico is much more likely.
Exactly right. The number of people killed during AMLO’s presidency was enormous. In fact, it was the bloodiest in Mexico’s history. The best thing she could is to silently ignore her predecessor, if she doesn’t want to criticize him, and use the USA’s help to get a handle on the situation.
You ignore that the maximum deaths were for the year he was elected, most of which he wasn’t president. Every year that he was president the deaths went down. They only went down 5% overall but every year was less.
Why didn’t you mention that?
How do you stop the world’s biggest arms dealer from selling guns? The NRA bought and paid for a lot of the American politicians. They won’t assist in stopping selling weapons of mass destruction
Both sides of the border suffer from endemic corruption, but each sees itself as pristeen. Cartels will get guns from somewhere if they have to make them. Cartels need guardrails and a willingness to use far less violence or be exterminated like other parasites like Hamas and Hezbollah.
On the topic of demand, cartels historically catered to demand but they need to take responsibility for creating demand for fentanyl by using it as an alternative to heroin and oxycontin and hiding it in many other drugs which then were despicably sold under false pretenses.