Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum denies making concessions to Trump tariff threat

Mexico’s President denies agreeing to close the border in her conversation with Donald Trump as Joe Biden warns him that new tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods will prove counter-productive.

(L to R) Colombia's President Gustavo Petro, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Mexico's President Claudia Scheinbaum, and Chile's President Gabriel Boric at the G20.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has denied ever agreeing to close the border in her conversation with Donald Trump, as Joe Biden warned the President-elect’s threatened tariffs would “screw up” America’s key relationships.

Speaking at her daily news conference on Thursday (Friday AEDT), Ms Sheinbaum contradicted Mr Trump’s interpretation of their conversation by saying that: “I can assure you … that we would never – we would not be capable – of proposing that we were going to close the border.”

“It has never been our approach and of course we don’t agree with that.”

Speaking in Nantucket, an island in Massachusetts where he is celebrating Thanksgiving with his family, Mr Biden also urged the President-elect on to rethink his approach to tariffs – warning it would be “counter-productive.”

The President made the comments after Mr Trump announced he would use executive orders to impose a 25 per cent tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico as well as an extra 10 per cent tariff on goods from China.

Mr Biden declared that: “I hope he rethinks it. I think it’s a counter-productive thing to do.”

“We have an unusual situation in America – we’re surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and two allies: Mexico and Canada,” he said. “The last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships.”

The previous day Mr Trump spoke with Sheinbaum, posting on his Truth Social platform after the call that she had agreed to “stop people from going to our Southern Border, effective immediately.”

“Just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border,” he said.

Yet, this interpretation is contested by Ms Sheinbaum who also posted following their discussion. She had a different take on their conversation and stressed that there was no change to the status quo.

“We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples,” she said. “In our conversation with President Trump, I explained to him the comprehensive strategy that Mexico has followed to address the migration phenomenon, respecting human rights. Thanks to this, migrants and caravans are assisted before they reach the border.”

Ms Sheinbaum also said that she explained that caravans were “not arriving at the northern border because they are being taken care of in Mexico.”

“We also discussed strengthening collaboration on security issues within the framework of our sovereignty and the campaign we are carrying out in the country to prevent the consumption of fentanyl.”

Ms Sheinbaum has also flagged the prospect of retaliatory tariffs being imposed on US goods, and wrote a letter to Mr Trump saying that it “isn’t with threats or tariffs that we resolve the migratory phenomenon or the abuse of drugs in the United States.”

“Any tariffs imposed by one side would likely prompt retaliatory tariffs, leading to risks for joint enterprises,” she said.

On Thursday (Friday AEDT), she explained the different accounts of her conversation with Mr Trump by saying that “everyone has their own way of communicating.”

Mr Trump proposed the day-one tariffs earlier this week as a measure to encourage China, Mexico and Canada to stop the flow of illegal migrants and drugs from spilling over the border into the United States.

“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Mr Trump said. “This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”

He also said that he would “be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America” until they cracked down on the “massive amounts of drugs, in particular fentanyl, being sent into the United States.”

After having his own conversation with Mr Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was a “good call.”

“This is something that we can do, laying out the facts moving forward in constructive ways,” he said. “This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on and that’s what we’ll do.”

Mr Trump has also promoted his plans to launch a “large scale United States Advertising Campaign” to crack down on drugs and expose the “horror” of fentanyl use in America.