Mexico’s president says country is ready for anything ahead of Tuesday deadline, as Canadian officials warn retaliation.
A day before US President’s Donald Trump’s tariffs are expected to go into effect, Mexico and Canada say they have plans in place for how to respond.
Trump is expected to decide on Monday what levels of tariffs he will impose early on Tuesday on Canada and Mexico amid last-minute negotiations over border security and efforts to halt the inflow of fentanyl opioids.
Trump has vowed to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico, with 10 percent for Canadian energy.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday that Mexico had made a strong case for staving off the tariffs, but that it would be up to Trump and the US government to decide how they will proceed.
“So whatever his decision is, we will make our decisions and there is a plan and there is unity in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said during her daily news conference.
Speaking on CNBC on Monday, Canadian Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson again vowed retaliatory measures if Trump went ahead with the tariffs.
Canadian officials had previously drawn up a plan to target imports produced in stronghold’s of Trump’s Republican party before the tariffs were first averted last month. It was not clear if they would take a similar approach this time around.
CEOs and economists say the action, covering more than $900bn worth of annual US imports from its southern and northern neighbours, would deal a serious setback to the highly integrated North American economy.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Sunday signalled that Trump may not impose the full amount of tariffs, saying that the president would determine their exact levels.
Mexico and Canada have “done a reasonable job” of securing their US borders and Trump is considering what the final tariff levels should be, Lutnick told Fox News.
“He’s sort of thinking about right now how exactly he wants to play with Mexico and Canada, and that is a fluid situation,” he said. “There are going to be tariffs on Tuesday on Mexico and Canada. Exactly what they are, we’re going to leave that for the president and his team to negotiate.”
‘The path that he’s chosen’
Trump has broadly vowed to reshape nearly all trade relations since taking office, claiming the US was being treated unfairly in its constellation of agreements across the world.
That has sparked fears of overlapping trade wars that could disrupt the global economy.
But Trump’s emphasis on Mexico and Canada has been particularly surprising, given the deeply intertwined nature of the three countries’ industries and economies.
In response to the threat, both Mexico and Canada last month announced a series of initiatives to meet Trump’s demands related to migration and drug trafficking.
That has included Mexico sending 10,000 National Guard troops to its shared border with the US. Last week, Mexico also extradited 29 drug cartel members to the US.
Among other measures, Canada has appointed a so-called “fentanyl czar”, despite US authorities seizing less than 20kg (44 pounds) of the opioid smuggled from Canada from October 2023 to September 2024.
Senior Canadian and Mexican officials also met with Trump cabinet members on Friday to discuss their response.
Trump adviser Peter Navarro said it was unlikely that Trump would waiver, despite concerns over domestic economic blowback.
“This is the path that he’s chosen,” he told CNBC.