Reuters
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum [Source: Reuters]
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday she and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump had agreed to maintain a good relationship in a friendly phone call that appeared to ease tensions between the top trading partners amid tariff threats.
Sheinbaum struck a more conciliatory tone a day after saying Mexico would retaliate if Trump carries out his pledge to impose a 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian imports.
The Mexican peso strengthened close to 1% early on Thursday, after weakening in recent days.
Trump’s proposed tariffs would appear to contravene the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free-trade pact, which Trump signed during his first term and is up for review in 2026.
Following Wednesday’s call, Trump said on social-media platform Truth Social that Sheinbaum had “agreed to stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”
Sheinbaum appeared to refute this on X, saying they had discussed Mexico’s strategies to curtail migration into the U.S. but Mexico’s policy was “not to close borders, but to build bridges between governments and their peoples.”
Addressing the apparent discrepancy, Sheinbaum told reporters it came down to different communication styles.
