Up to the last minute, ISAAC Presburger, like many other Mexican business people, still couldn’t believe that President Trump would make his promise to meet Mexico tariffs. It was very important that Mr. Trump announced that day that he would continue with the planned taxes.
“I’m still incredulous,” said Presburger, sales manager at Preslow, a family business in Mexico. “We now know that Trump presses her so that she gives him what he wants. We gave him everything and he didn’t let go of his grip. “
In response to Mr. Trump’s threat, Mexican products to impose 25 percent tariffs, Mexico made great efforts: the leaders agreed to send more than two dozen alleged antitrust heads to be brought to trial in the United States.
President Claudia Sheinbaum sent thousands of troops from the National Guard to the state of Sinaloa, the center of the fentanyl trade, where they confiscated large quantities of the synthetic opioid and destroyed hundreds of laboratories. She sent thousands more to the US border and contributions to a jump into the number of illegal intersections.
Ms. Sheinbaum leaned on when the Trump government expected her government to be serious to meet the US demands, say analysts.
And yet the tariffs met the tariffs after midnight on Tuesday.
This even revealed this in the Mexican government, in business and civil society, but also feels angrily.
“We are emphatically thought,” said Ms. Sheinbaum on Tuesday morning in a press conference, hours after Mr. Trump’s tariffs came into force on his largest trading partners, including Mexico and Canada. “There is no reason, the justification or no apology that supports this decision that affects our people and nations.”
She stuck what she described as “significant measures” of her government against organized crime, and found that between October and January on the border between the USA and Mexico, 50 percent fentanyl attacks had decreased.
“We worked and delivered results in security questions,” she said.
The tariffs not only represent a crack in the structure of two economies that have been deeply interwoven for decades, but also a sudden departure from a relationship that has been collaborative for a long time, and what many expected in Mexico: a deal at the last minute.
By the end of last week, a delegation from Mexico had desperately negotiated with officials in Washington, and the leaders had projected trust. Even the financial markets kept stable in Mexico.
Mexico’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, posted On Friday “Mexico and the United States have a great future together” with three thumbs-high emojis. Managing Directors all over the country shared the same optimism until Monday.
José de Jesús Rodríguez, President of the Mexico City Chamber of Commerce, said Mr. Trump’s decision, especially in view of the American leader’s proposal, that he would not impose tariffs if Mexico achieved results on migration and drug trafficking. The results that it delivered included a flood of arrests on the high level and the handover of the 29 accused drug bosses that the US government had tried to get to its own ground for a long time.
But Mr. Trump, whose criticism of Mexico had focused on illegal fentanyl, shifted his conditions on Monday and said that Canada and Mexico had to move automotive factories and other production to the USA. “To be honest and other things in the United States, what you have to do is to build your car systems. In this case you have no tariffs,” he said.
“It is extremely disappointing and frustrating,” said Rodríguez. “The United States broke their word and dictates the future of our commercial relationship.”
“It’s time for us to look at other regions,” he added.
Ms. Sheinbaum said that she had planned a call to Mr. Trump for Thursday and said reporters on Tuesday that her government would open a number against the retaliation on Tuesday, including retaliation taxes, which will be announced on Sunday. Canada also announced mutual tariffs.
“We don’t want to go into a trade war,” she said. “This only affects people.”
Ms. Sheinbaum’s approval ratings in Mexico have increased and many praised their Coolheart to deal with Mr. Trump, who described her as a “wonderful woman”.
But the trade wars that are now in progress will not only test this relationship, but also how much the government can is isolating its economy and its population from chaos and pain.
Mr. Presburger, Preslow’s sales director, said he still hoped that the tariffs would not take longer than a few days or that Mr. Trump would change his opinion. Otherwise “it will be catastrophic for Mexico.”
The United States buys more than three quarters of Mexican exports, and the tariffs hit the production, agriculture and other companies that immediately disturb the supply chain and most likely increase the costs for Mexican goods sold in the USA.
Just a few hours before the tariffs came into force, Manuel Sotelo, President of the Association of Transporters of Ciudad Juárez, said that the uncertainty was floating about the many who transported goods to the United States.
He said that if tariffs were used for all Mexican products, they would affect them all. However, if they also applied for raw materials that come from companies at the border, the situation for the region is deteriorated. “
He said the transport industry could not even take a week if the trade were frozen.
When Mr. Trump met Mexico tariffs in his first term, it performed a surgical reaction and aimed at the retaliation tariffs in products that were produced in Republican states as part of Trump’s basis – such as Kentucky Bourbon.
The tariffs were lifted after about a year.
The Mexican business owners and trade groups prepared for the worst.
Antonio Lancaster, President of the Council of the State of Jalisco, one of the greatest exporters of food and drinks – including tequila – said that the Chambers leaders are already in discussions with the state and federal government about plans to strengthen local production and to pursue other export markets.
“We saw that, and that means that we will carry out a new arrangement of our exports,” said Lancaster. He added: “In the end we will export to Europe, Asia or somewhere else.”
Business people like Mr. Lancaster argued that the tariffs will ultimately violate both American consumers and Mexican producers.
“We all lose here,” he said.
Jesús Manuel Salayandía, coordinator of a group of companies on the border, said that the company leader, who are mainly based in the United States, have planned their reaction to the tariffs.
“You analyze whether you move to Central America, to the southern part of the country when you return to the USA or whether you automate or become certain production lines,” he said. “All of this is taken into account.”
Mr. Salayandía said that the Mexican government, who may have expected a deal at the last minute, did not work for the preparation.
They thought: “Wait until Trump tells us what will happen,” he said. “But you are not working on a plan to strengthen the domestic market or to offer incentives that are already here.”
Marcelo Vázquez, state delegate of the National Association of importers and exporters of the Mexican Republic in Chihuahua, said in the past few weeks that some companies have practically around the clock to export goods to the USA before the tariffs came into force.
“But that’s just a aspirin for headache; It doesn’t really solve the problem. “
Rocío Gallegos Contribution to the reporting of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
