bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

US President-elect Donald Trump said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum had agreed Wednesday to “stop” US-bound migration, a claim she was quick to publicly play down.
Both sides described their call positively, despite it following a threat by Trump on Monday to slap a 25 percent tariff on Mexico, prompting warnings by the Mexican government of retaliation.
“Just had a wonderful conversation with the new president of Mexico,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“She has agreed to stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border,” he said, implying a shift in policy.

Sheinbaum responded quickly to Trump’s remarks, insisting that she had explained Mexico’s current “comprehensive strategy” on migration.
“Thanks to this, migrants and caravans are attended to before they reach the border,” she said on X.
“We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between government and peoples,” she added.
Sheinbaum, who became Mexico’s first woman president in October, had earlier shared brief details of the conversation alongside a picture of her smiling during a phone call.
The two leaders also discussed “strengthening collaboration on security issues” as well as “the campaign we are conducting in the country to prevent the consumption of fentanyl,” Sheinbaum said.
Illegal migration across the Mexico border is down in part because the Joe Biden administration secured some stepped-up cooperation from Mexico.


Arrivals at the US-Mexico border have dropped 40 per cent from an all-time high in December. US officials mostly credit Mexican vigilance around rail yards and highway checkpoints.
Driven by mounting pressure from the US block migrants going north, in the past few years Mexican authorities have turned to rounding them up across the country and sending them to southern Mexico, in a strategy seen by experts as an attempt to wear migrants out until they give up.
On Monday, Trump vowed on social media that one of his first actions upon taking office in January would be to impose tariffs of 25 per cent on imports from Mexico and Canada.
“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social page.
He also pledged to add a 10 per cent tariff on China.
The Republican, who won an election in which illegal migration was a top issue, has vowed to declare a national emergency on border security and use the US military to carry out a mass deportation of undocumented migrants.

“If there are US tariffs, Mexico would also raise tariffs,” Sheinbaum said during a press conference, in her clearest statement yet that the country was preparing possible retaliatory trade measures against its top trade partner.
Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard, speaking alongside Sheinbaum, said: “some “400,000 jobs will be lost” in the United States if Trump followed through on his threat. He cited a study based on figures from US carmakers that manufacture in Mexico.
Ebrard said the tariffs would also hit US consumers hard, citing the US market for pickup trucks - most of which are manufactured in Mexico. The tariffs, the minister said, would add US$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,” Ebrard told reporters.
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.
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 US businesses, especially automakers, were losing out.
Additional reporting by Reuters and Associated Press


Trump says talk that he has ceded presidency to Musk is a ‘hoax’

Trump favours keeping TikTok in US after ‘billions of views’ during election campaign

Trump picks Stephen Miran to head Council of Economic Advisers

Trump threatens to retake control of Panama Canal unless deal reached on rates

Donald Trump

Trump says Mexico’s president agreed to ‘stop’ US-bound migration after his tariff threat

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke with US President-elect Donald Trump. Photo: AFP

Migrants walk in caravan towards the border with the United States in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Photo: EPA-EFE

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum and Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente hold a call with US President-elect Donald Trump. Photo: Claudia Sheinbaum via X

The US-Mexico border wall in La Grulla, Texas. Photo: EPA-EFE

Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum hints she could retaliate against Trump tariffs

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum gestures during a press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

US President Donald Trump greets Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau upon his arrival at the White House in June 2019. Photo: AP

Canada considering retaliatory tariffs on US items following Trump threat

Commercial trucks head towards the US Customs and Border Protection Pacific Highway Port of Entry from south Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Vehicles enter the US from Canada at a US port of entry in Blaine, Washington. Photo: AFP

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and then US President Donald Trump in 2017. File photo: AFP

China says US must ‘cherish’ its cooperation on fentanyl as Trump vows to add 10% tariff

US president-elect Donald Trump says his administration will charge China “an additional 10 per cent tariff, above any additional tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States” until it effectively stops fentanyl shipments to the US. Photo” AFP

Trump’s trade chief pick, a Lighthizer protégé, set to push hard line, tariffs on China

International trade lawyer Jamieson Greer. Photo: Reuters

Robert Lighthizer (centre), then-US trade tepresentative, with then-vice-premier Liu He in Shanghai in 2019. Photo: AP

FBI probes bomb threats and ‘swatting attacks’ against Trump’s cabinet picks

Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defence. Photo: AP

Elise Stefanik, Donald Trump’s choice to be US ambassador to the United Nations. Photo: AP

Donald Trump and Lee Zeldin. File photo: TNS

Matt Gaetz was Donald Trump’s initial pick to serve as attorney general. File photo: TNS

News

World

Americas

United States & Canada

Donald Trump and Claudia Sheinbaum give slightly different accounts of their ‘wonderful conversation’ about migration amid US tariff plans


Donald Trump and Claudia Sheinbaum give slightly different accounts of their ‘wonderful conversation’ about migration amid US tariff plans.


Mexico

US presidential election 2024

United States

US immigration