Mexican Leader Pushes Back on Trump’s Threat to Double Duties Over Migrant Caravan Claim

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday rebutted a threat of doubled duties on the country’s exports to the United States levied by President Donald Trump on Truth Social in the wee hours of the morning.

At 4:04 a.m. Eastern Time, the Commander in Chief claimed that an invasion of the U.S. was “taking place again,” with caravans from Mexico “beginning their illegal march” toward the border.

“MEXICO MUST STOP THEM, NOW, and if they do not do so, the Tariffs on Mexico will be IMMEDIATELY DOUBLED,” he Truthed, adding that the country’s government, as well as current and future Texas officials, had been informed. “There will be no leniency!” he said.

Sheinbaum responded during a daily press conference to deny the allegation. “Not a single migrant caravan has reached the north” since January of last year, she said.

The leader said that a caravan of around 600 migrants had been traveling through Chiapas in southern Mexico, but they were discouraged from making the trek to the border. Mexican authorities intercepted several hundred Honduran migrants and encouraged them to abandon their objective of reaching the U.S. Sheinbaum added that Mexican authorities have “extensive experience” in dealing with such situations before caravans reach the border.

Trump’s early morning missive came amid negotiations with Mexico, which is seeking relief from 10 percent tariffs on Mexican products not covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), 25 percent tariffs on certain trucks and 50 percent duties on steel and aluminum.

To further the progress of these talks, the country has taken steps to adjust its treatment of foreign imports to ensure that they don’t make their way into the U.S. Mexico’s deputy economy minister for foreign trade, Luis Rosendo Gutierrez, said the country is working on halting steel imports from China and other nations from being routed through Mexico and into the American market, according to Reuters.

The country’s government is heightening its traceability measures, and he assured that no products would reach the U.S. by undermining the USMCA’s trade benefits. “We want to guarantee—and we are guaranteeing—that there is no triangulation of steel or other products that reach the United States taking advantage of our trade agreement,” he said.

Thus far, Mexico has slashed 1,100 steel mills from its registry of approved suppliers in Asia after finding out that they did not exist, the outlet reported. The action led to an 80 percent reduction in steel imports from Vietnam in recent months, while cutting steel imports from China, India and South Korea by 30 percent.

These efforts come after the U.S. declined to renew the USMCA following a joint review between trade officials from all three North American nations in July.

Talks between the parties have persisted, however, and Mexico and the U.S. seemed well-positioned to reach an interim deal to lower duties. In October, Sheinbaum said Mexico was “doing many things to help reduce the deficit” in trade with the U.S., “above all, buying goods from the United States and stopping purchases from other countries,” according to Bloomberg. She also hinted that the two sides were close to reaching a consensus.

The digital shots Trump fired at Mexico were, as such, an unusual deviation from recent tirades most often directed at Canada, the other USMCA partner.

Beyond refusing to back the renewal of the trilateral free trade agreement, Washington levied 50 percent duties on over $20 billion in Canadian imports in August—a move that was proceeded by in-kind retaliation.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was measured in his tone following the Republicans’ bruising midterm election loss and a swift promise from Democrats to repeal the duties on Canadian goods. On Tuesday, he reiterated that Trump remains the primary decision-maker when it comes to trade agreements.

“What is clear is that the people who decide on trade agreements are the executive in the United States over the next two or three years,” Carney told press in Montreal, according to the AP. “The President, the executive and Americans, not necessarily legislators.”

Speaking at the B20 Summit in Washington, D.C. this week, Canadian Ambassador Mark Wiseman repudiated the president’s tariff strategy, saying that the duties weighing down businesses on both sides of the border.

“Uncertainty increases your cost of capital,” he said. “If you’re going to build a new plant, add a new shift, spend money on R&D, the more certainty you have, the more likely you’re going to do that.”

Wiseman said the continuation of the tariffs—and the uncertainty surrounding the trade relationship more broadly—could impede long-term commercial and industrial investment in both the U.S. and Canada.

He advocated that both sides roll back the duties and resume duty-free trade. “The sooner, the better,” he said.

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