“We gave him everything”: Trump's tariffs stun Mexico

Until the last minute, Isaac Presburger, like many other Mexican businessmen, couldn't believe President Trump would fulfill his promise to strike Mexico with tariffs. It was little significant that Trump announced that he would go ahead with the planned taxes that day.

“I'm still incredible,” said Pressberger, sales director for Pressrow, a family-owned apparel business in Mexico. “You'll give him what he wants because you know now that Trump is putting pressure on you. We gave him everything and he didn't release his grip.”

Mexico has put a great effort in response to Trump's threat of imposing a 25% tariff on Mexican products. Leaders have agreed to send more than two dozen suspects of cartel directors being heard in the United States.

President Claudia Sinbaum sent thousands of national guards to Sinaloa, a hub for fentanyl trafficking, where they seized enormous amounts of synthetic opioids and destroyed hundreds of laboratories. She sent thousands more to the US border, helping to enter the number of illegal intersections.

Sinbaum was even more bent than everyone expected to show the Trump administration that her government was serious about meeting our demands, analysts say.

Still, despite this, tariffs were struck after midnight on Tuesday.

It left people involving Mexican government, business and civil society, but it has also been pissed and even betrayed.

“We are underscored,” Sinbaum said at a press conference Tuesday morning hours after it came into effect on its biggest trading partners, including Mexico and Canada. “There is no reason, justification or excuse to support this decision that affects our people and our nation.”

She carved what she described as a “significant action” against organized crime by the government, pointing to a 50% drop in fentanyl attacks on the US-Mexican border between October and January.

“We addressed security issues and achieved results,” she said.

The tariffs represent not only cracks in the fabrics of the two economies that have been deeply woven over decades, but also a sudden departure from the relationship that has long been cooperative and many of Mexico had hoped for: last minute deals.

Until late last week, the Mexican delegation was desperately negotiating with Washington officials, and leaders projected confidence. Even the financial markets were stable in Mexico.

Mexican economy minister Marcelo Ebrard posted on social media on Friday with three thumbs-up emojis saying, “Mexico and the US are working together.” Business leaders across the country shared the same optimism until Monday.

Jose de Jesz Rodriguez, president of Mexico City's Chamber of Commerce, said Trump's decision surprised him, particularly in light of the American leader's suggestion that he would not impose tariffs if Mexico produced the outcome of immigration and drug trafficking. The results it provided included a barrage of high levels of arrests and extradition of drug bosses for the 29 accused, whom the US government had long been trying to reach its own soil.

But Trump, whose criticism of Mexico was focused on illegal fentanyl, changed conditions on Monday, saying Canada and Mexico would need to move automotive factories and other manufacturing industries to the United States. “All they have to do is, frankly, build their car plants, and others in the US. In that case, they don't have tariffs,” he said.

“That's very disappointing and frustrating,” Rodriguez said. “The United States breaks their words and it determines the future of our commercial relationship.”

“It's time for us to look elsewhere,” he added.

Sinbaum said a call with Trump is scheduled for Thursday, and told reporters on Tuesday that if tariffs are subsequently in effect, her government will proceed with measures to address numbers, including retaliation taxes, announced on Sunday. Canada has also announced mutual tariffs.

“We don't want to participate in the trade war,” she said. “It only affects people.”

Sinbaum's approval rates have skyrocketed in Mexico, with many praising her calm approach to dealing with Trump, who called her a “great woman.”

However, the ongoing trade war tests not only its relationships, but also the amount that governments can isolate their economy and population from confusion and pain.

Pressburger, the sales director for Presslow, said he hopes that tariffs will not last for more than a few days, or that Trump will change his mind. Otherwise, “it's going to be miserable for Mexico.”

The US will buy more than three-quarters of Mexican exports, and tariffs will likely collide with manufacturing, agriculture and other businesses, quickly disrupt supply chains and increase the costs of Mexican goods sold in the US.

Just hours before the tariffs came into effect, Manuel Sotelo, chairman of the Transporters Association of Ciudad Juárez, said uncertainty came to many people making truck goods in the United States.

He said that if tariffs were applied to all Mexican products, they would affect everyone. But if they were also applied to raw materials coming from border businesses, “the situation would worsen the local situation.”

He said the transportation industry cannot last for a week if trade is frozen.

When Trump struck Mexico with tariffs during his first term, it carried out a surgical response and targeted retaliatory tariffs on products produced in Republican states, such as Kentucky Bourbon, which were considered part of Trump's base.

The duties were lifted about a year later.

The preparations for the worst Mexican business owners and trade groups had already begun scrambling.

Antonio Lancaster, chairman of the Jalisco Industrial Room Council, one of the largest food and drink exporters, including tequila, said Chambers leaders are already discussing plans to strengthen local production with the state and federal government and pursue other export markets.

“We saw this coming, which means pursuing a redeployment of exports,” Lancaster said. He added: “We're going to export to Europe, Asia or elsewhere.”

Businessmen like Lancaster argued that tariffs would ultimately hurt American consumers and Mexican producers.

“We're all losing here,” he said.

Jessu Manuel Sarayandia, coordinator of border business groups, said that corporate leaders, based primarily in the US, are meeting to plan their tariff response.

“They are analyzing whether they will move to Central America, move to the southern part of the country, return to the US, or whether they will automate or robotize certain production lines,” he said. “All of that is taken into consideration.”

Sarayandia said the Mexican government was not working to prepare, expecting a last-minute deal.

They were thinking, “Let's wait for Trump to tell us what's going to happen,” he said. “However, they are not working on plans to strengthen the domestic market or provide incentives to businesses already here.”

Marcelo Vazquez, the state president of the National Association of Importers and Exporters of the Republic of Mexico in Chihuahua, said in the past few weeks that some companies are effectively working to export to the US before tariffs come into effect.

“But it's aspirin for a headache. It really doesn't solve the problem.”

Rocío Gallegos contributed to a report from Ciudad Juárez of Mexico.