Mexico City, Feb 3 (Prensa Latina) President Claudia Sheinbaum will announce the first measures in response to the executive order signed by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to apply 25 percent tariffs to products from Mexico.
“In the morning press conference tomorrow I will be informing you of the first measures of what we call Plan B,” said the dignitary yesterday, referring to the application of tariff and non-tariff provisions “in defense of the interests of Mexico,” announced the president, who warned that Trump’s decision “has effects for both countries,” but “very serious for the economy of the United States, because it will raise the costs of all products exported from Mexico to the United States a lot, it will have a 25 percent higher cost.”
Sheinbaum pointed out that for three decades this situation did not exist, since both nations have a free trade agreement, which was signed by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) and Trump himself.
According to Washington, “one of the reasons for putting this tariff is because of fentanyl (…), but even more irresponsible, terribly irresponsible is that the White House issues a document saying that there are links between the Mexican government and organized crime,” said the dignitary, who called that statement slanderous, rejected any interventionist intention and stressed that “sovereignty is not negotiable.”
“If there is such an alliance anywhere, it is in the armories of the United States, which sell high-powered weapons, for the exclusive use of the army, to these criminal groups, which was demonstrated by the US Department of Justice itself,” the president said.
Sheinbaum highlighted Mexico’s results in terms of security during the last four months, including the seizure of more than 40 tons of drugs, including 20 million doses of fentanyl, and the arrest of more than 10,000 persons linked to these groups. “We have a strategy, we address the causes and fight impunity. Every day we work for the security of the country,” she said, stressing that drug use and distribution is in the United States and is also a public health problem that the US has never addressed.
The president again emphasized that Mexico does not want any confrontation. She reiterated her proposal to Trump that both countries establish a working table with their best security and public health teams, and called for waiting for Trump’s response.
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