THE Donald Trump assured yesterday, Wednesday, that the Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum promised him that he would “stop her migration” which is irregularly done to the USA, “essentially closing” the southern border of his country, but which she immediately contradicted, stressing that it is not Mexico’s position that they should “close the border”.

“I just had a wonderful conversation with the new president of Mexico (…) She agreed to stop immigration through of Mexico in the direction of the USA, essentially closing our southern border” said Mr. Trump via Truth Social.

“Mexico will stop the world from coming to our southern border, effective immediately,” he added in a second post, ten minutes later, stressing that this would make a significant contribution “to ending the illegal invasion of the US,” typing the last sentence in capital letters.

What he claimed, however, was contradicted, a short time later, by the Mexican president through X.

In the conversation with Mr. Trump, “I explained the overall strategy implemented by Mexico to deal with the migration phenomenon, with respect for human rights (…) We repeat that Mexico’s position is not to close the borders, but to build bridges between the governments and the peoples”, noted the Mexican president.

Earlier, Ms. Sheinbaum spoke of her “excellent” conversation on security and immigration issues with US President-elect Trump.

“We touched on the Mexican strategy for the phenomenon of immigration,” said the president of Mexico, elected with the MORENA party (nationalist left), adding that she emphasized to her interlocutor that “caravans (of immigrants) do not arrive at the northern border (of Mexico) because responsibility is taken’ for these people by the Mexican authorities.

The conversation came days after the Republican reiterated the threat to her country, as well as Canada and China, on how to proceed. to a large increase in customs duties.

On Monday, Trump reiterated his intention to sign executive orders to “impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada on ALL of their products imported into the United States” as early as January 20, the day he is sworn into office. the power.

These tariffs “shall remain in force until the drugsespecially the fentanyland all illegal immigrants stop (…) the invasion of our country!”, added Mr. Trump.

The Mexican peso fell the next day to a 28-month low. However, the Mexican currency partially recovered yesterday.

The so-called migrant caravans they are formed by people who usually leave Central and South America and try to reach the USA by land routes, covering huge distances.

Donald Trump, who had put the immigration issue at the center of his victorious election campaign in 2016, promising to build a wall on the border with Mexico, also spoke extremely violently about immigrants in this election campaign, accusing them of “poisoning the blood” of America and promising to put an end to what he describes as an “invasion”.

The president of Mexico said yesterday that she discussed with the one who will become her counterpart in a period of less than two months “to strengthen the cooperation (of the two countries) on security issues” and about “the campaign in our country to prevent consumption fentanyl”.

Mr. Trump, for his part, spoke of a discussion about “what can be done to stop the massive flow of drugs into the United States, as well as the consumption of these drugs in the United States.”

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid “about 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin,” according to the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

As Washington points out, fentanyl, which is often produced in Mexico with chemicals brought into the country from China, is responsible for more than 70,000 overdose deaths each year on US soil.

Before the conference call, Claudia Sheinbaum warned Donald Trump against continuing his threats, which sent shockwaves through financial markets. “President Trump, threats or tariffs will not stop immigration or drug use in the US,” she said in a letter.

The Mexican head of state made it clear that her government would be forced to increase tariffs on American products in turn if her country were to suffer punitive measures from Washington, stressing that any trade war would have a very heavy impact in terms of competitiveness, inflation and employment in North America.

“I am sure that we will conclude an agreement with the USA and President Trump”, however, the president answered yesterday when asked about it during a press conference, after reading her letter.

The US would be “shooting itself in the foot” if it increased tariffs to 25% on the products it imports from Mexico, the Mexican Minister of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, estimated yesterday.

“The impact on business would be enormous,” he explained, estimating that as many as 400,000 US jobs would be threatened.

83% of the products exported by Mexico are destined for the USA. The two countries have signed, along with Canada, a free trade agreement that has been in place for some thirty years. Many American companies, especially automobile manufacturers, have located their factories in Mexico.