Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum revealed that she had “a good conversation” on Monday morning with U.S. President Donald Trump, “with great respect for our relationship and sovereignty.”
In a post on X, Sheinbaum said the two reached “a series of agreements” during their conversation, two days after the Mexican president ordered retaliatory tariffs in response to the U.S. decision to slap 25 per cent levies on all goods coming from Mexico as a trade war broke out between the two neighbours.
“1. Mexico will immediately reinforce the northern border with 10,000 members of the National Guard to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, particularly fentanyl,” Sheinbaum wrote, explaining the agreements.
“2. The United States is committed to working to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico. 3. Our teams will begin working today on two fronts: security and trade,” she continued.
Sheinbaum also said that the fourth agreement is that the United States is “pausing tariffs for one month from now.”
Trump confirmed on TruthSocial they had a “very friendly conversation” and that they will “immediately pause the anticipated tariffs for a one month period.”
“We further agreed to immediately pause the anticipated tariffs for a one month period during which we will have negotiations headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and high-level Representatives of Mexico. I look forward to participating in those negotiations, with President Sheinbaum, as we attempt to achieve a ‘deal’ between our two Countries,” he wrote.
On Sunday, Sheinbaum said that reason should prevail a day after her government and the U.S. announced tariffs against one another, raising her fist in the air as she said she does not lack the courage to respond.
Trump said on Sunday that the sweeping tariffs he imposed on Mexico, Canada and China may cause “some pain” for Americans, as Wall Street and the largest U.S. trading partners signalled hope that the trade war would not last long.
In a speech outside the Mexican capital on Sunday, Sheinbaum raised her fist in the air and said the trade penalties first ordered by Trump will hit his own people with higher prices.
She said her government preferred dialogue rather than confrontation with its top trade partner to the north.
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In a lengthy statement on X, Sheinbaum addressed Trump’s statement that the tariffs against Mexico were a response to illegal immigration and the “alliance” between drug trafficking organizations and Mexico’s government.
“We categorically reject the White House’s slanderous claim that the Mexico government has alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any attempt to intervene in our territory,” Sheinbaum wrote on X. “If there is anywhere that such an alliance in fact exists, it is in the United States gun factories that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups.”
Sheinbaum said the Mexican government has “seized more than 40 tons of drugs in four months,” including “20 million doses of fentanyl,” and has “arrested more than ten thousand people linked to these groups.”
“If the U.S. government and its agencies want to address the serious fentanyl consumption problem in their country, they could, for example, combat the sale of narcotics on the streets of their major cities—something they do not do—as well as the money laundering generated by this illegal activity, which has caused significant harm to their population,” she added.
Claudia Sheinbaum speaking during a briefing conference about the immigration issue after Donald Trump took office as the 47th President of the United States, briefing held at the National Palace. on January 22, 2025 in Mexico City, Mexico.
Carlos Santiago
Sheinbaum also suggested that the U.S. could “launch a massive campaign to prevent drug consumption and protect their youth” like Mexico has done.
“Drug consumption and distribution occur in their own country, and that is a public health problem they have not addressed. Moreover, the synthetic opioid epidemic in the United States originates from the indiscriminate prescription of these medications, authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as demonstrated by the legal case against a pharmaceutical company,” Sheinbaum wrote.
“Mexico does not seek confrontation. We believe in collaboration between neighbouring countries. Mexico does not want fentanyl to reach the United States—or anywhere else. Therefore, if the United States truly wants to combat the criminal groups that traffic drugs and fuel violence, we must work together in a comprehensive manner, but always under the principles of shared responsibility, mutual trust, collaboration, and, above all, respect for sovereignty—which is non-negotiable. Coordination, yes; subordination, no.”
Sheinbaum proposed to Trump that they establish a working group with their best security and public health teams.
“Tariffs will not solve these problems. Instead, we must talk and negotiate, just as we have in recent weeks with the U.S. State Department to address migration, always respecting human rights on our side,” she said.
“I am instructing the Secretary of Economy to implement Plan B, which we have been preparing, including tariff and non-tariff measures to defend Mexico’s interests,” she wrote, without specifying what U.S. goods her government will target.
“Nothing by force; everything through reason and law,” she concluded her post.
On Sunday, the governors of Mexico’s 31 states and Mexico City backed Sheinbaum in a joint statement.
“We energetically condemn the accusations that suggest there is a link between our government and narco-trafficking cartels,” it said. “These claims are not only baseless, they also ignore the major, verifiable efforts Mexico has made to combat organized crime,” the statement read.
Mexico’s economy minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said on X that Trump is hurting himself.
“Accusing the Mexican government of being an ally of narco [traffickers] is – apart from an insult to our country – a pretext to distract US public opinion from the tremendous mistake of imposing disruptive tariffs on Mexico and North American companies that operate here. Shooting oneself in the foot,” Ebrard wrote.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sheinbaum spoke by phone Saturday after Trump’s administration imposed the new tariffs — 25 per cent on goods from Canada and Mexico, with a lower rate of 10 per cent for Canadian oil, and 10 per cent on imports from China.
Trudeau’s office said in a statement that Canada and Mexico agreed “to enhance the strong bilateral relations” between their countries. Canadian officials have had extensive dialogue with their Mexican counterparts, but a senior Canadian official said he would not go as far as to say the tariff responses were coordinated.
“Now is the time to choose products made right here in Canada,” Trudeau posted Sunday on X. “Check the labels. Let’s do our part. Wherever we can, choose Canada.”
Trump is making a major political bet that his actions will not significantly worsen inflation, cause financial aftershocks that could destabilize the worldwide economy or provoke a voter backlash.
With the tariffs, Trump is honouring promises that are at the core of his economic and national security philosophy. The announcement showed his seriousness around the issue as some Trump allies had played down the threat of higher import taxes as mere negotiating tactics.
Trump has said the government should raise more of its revenues from tariffs, as it did before the income tax became part of the U.S. Constitution in 1913. He claims, despite economic evidence to the contrary, that the U.S. was at its wealthiest in the 1890s under then-president William McKinley.
—With files from Reuters and The Associated Press
