Trump Backtracks on Tariffs for Mexico and Canada, after Calls with Leaders

Mar 7, 2025 | After calls with Sheinbaum and Trudeau, Donald Trump pauses tariffs on both Mexico and Canada until April. Anthony Davis reports.

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Mexico Threatens to Escalate US Gunmakers Lawsuit with Terror Charges

THE GUARDIAN: Claudia Scheinbaum warns of reciprocal action if Washington designates country’s cartels as terrorist groups

Mexico’s president has warned US gunmakers they could face fresh legal action as accomplices of organized crime if Washington designates the country’s cartels as terrorist groups.

The Latin American country, which is under mounting pressure from Donald Trump to curb illegal drug smuggling, wants its neighbor to crack down on firearms trafficking in the other direction.

“If they declare these criminal groups as terrorists, then we’ll have to expand our US lawsuit,” Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said at a daily press conference.

A new charge could include alleged complicity of gunmakers with terror groups, she said.

“The lawyers are looking at it, but they could be accomplices,” Sheinbaum warned.

She said the US justice department itself has recognized that “74% of the weapons” used by criminal groups in Mexico come from north of the border. » | Agence France-Presse in Mexico City | Friday, February 14, 2025

Is President Donald Trump Using Tariffs as a Negotiating Tactic? | Inside Story

Feb 4, 2025 | US President Donald Trump's tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico are on hold for a month. But US levies on Chinese products have gone into effect - and Beijing has hit back with duties of its own. It accuses Washington of unilateralism and has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization. President Trump says America has been ripped off by 'every country in the world'. So, are tariffs the answer? And at what cost?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:
Dmitry Grozoubinski -- Director of ExplainTrade - a trade policy and negotiations consultancy
Greg Swenson -- Founding Partner of the investment banking firm, Brigg Macadam
Gavin Fridell -- Professor of Political Science and Global Development Studies at Saint Mary's University in Canada

Mexico President Sxheinbaum Destroys Trump in Major Speech

Feb 3, 2025 | MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the presidential address by the popular and powerful President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum where she shows that Mexico will fight back against Trump.

Trump Gets Rude Awakening as Tariffs Backfire

Feb 2, 2025 | MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump getting hit with a massive retaliation by Mexico and Canada for the tariffs Trump had the USA impose on them.

Tit-for-tat Tariffs: Did Trump Just Start a Trade War? | DW News

Feb 2, 2025 | US President Donald Trump has followed through on his tariff threats. He has signed an order to levy 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico. He also set tariffs of 10 percent on Chinese goods. The measures are due to come into force on Tuesday. The announcement has provoked immediate reactions from the countries concerned.

Canada and Mexico Hit Back as President Trump Imposes Huge Tariffs | BBC News

Feb 2, 2025 | US President Donald Trump has announced new tariffs on all goods imported from America's three largest trading partners, China, Mexico and Canada.

Trump said the US would impose tariffs beginning on Tuesday of 25% on Canada and Mexico as well as an additional 10% tax on China. Canadian energy faces a lower 10% tariff.

He had threatened to impose the import taxes if the three countries did not address his concerns about illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

Both Canada and Mexico said they were preparing retaliatory tariffs of their own.

Trump Signs Order Authorizing Tariffs on Goods from Canada, Mexico and China

THE GUARDIAN: Decision could set the stage for a damaging trade war between the US and three of its top trade partners

Donald Trump has signed an order authorizing tariffs after vowing to impose dramatic taxes on goods from Canada, Mexico and China starting this weekend.

The decision could set the stage for a damaging trade war between the US and three of its top trade partners. Trump has also threatened to impose tariffs against European Union nations.

Trump signed three executive orders on Saturday imposing tariffs of 25% on all goods from Mexico and Canada, the New York Times reported. Trump imposed a 10% tariff on Canadian oil exports, as well as a 10% tariff on items from China.

Trump is imposing the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Authorities have nodded to worries about fentanyl coming in to the US through this county’s borders with Canada and Mexico, produced from Chinese ingredients, according to the Times.

Trump’s decision to levy a 10% tariff rate on Canadian energy products seems to be some sort of recognition that tariffs can spur higher prices. The White House has contended that tariffs will not fan the flames of inflation. » | Victoria Beklempis | Saturday, February 1, 2025

THE NEW YORK TIMES:

Trump Signs Orders Imposing Steep Tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China »

'Cognitively Declining' Trump Faces Economic Chaos as Tariffs Backfire | Diane Francis

Feb 1, 2025 | "It was frighteningly rambling and he repeated himself, to me it looked like cognitive decline." US and Canadian markets were thrown into chaos by Trump's confused launch of tariffs against Canada and Mexico, says Editor at Large of the National Post Diane Francis on The Trump Report for Times Radio.

Trump to Impose Tariffs on Imports from Canada, Mexico and China

THE GUARDIAN: US neighbors hit with 25% tariff and China with 10% as Trudeau pledges ‘forceful but reasonable’ response

Donald Trump has vowed to impose sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China starting this weekend, potentially setting the stage for a damaging trade war between the US and three of its biggest trading partners. Trump also threatened to follow up with a further wave of tariffs against the European Union.

Goods exported from Canada and Mexico to the US will be hit with a 25% tariff, while products from China face a 10% levy, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters on Friday. (+ video) » | Callum Jones in New York, Leyland Cecco in Toronto, Thomas Graham in Mexico City and George Chidi | Friday, January 31, 2025

Is Trump Right about the Canadian Border? | About That

Dec 5, 2024 | U.S. president-elect Donald Trump and his incoming border czar claim their country's northern border with Canada is a threat to national security. Andrew Chang breaks down the basis of the claims about drugs and illegal migrants streaming into the country from Canada, and to what extent they're true.

John Bolton on Donald Trump: He Blew The (Greenland) Negotiations Up | Full Interview

Jan 10, 2025 | Tom Burges Watson is joined by former US ambassador to the UN under Donald Trump, John Bolton, for a special interview discussing and reacting to Donald Trump's recent claims about wanting to control Greenland, the Panama Canal and Mexico as well as other claims made by the President-elect just over a week from his inauguration.

Poking Fun at Trump, Mexico’s President Suggests Renaming the U.S.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico also said Donald Trump was ill-informed when he said Mexico was “essentially run by the cartels.”

Mexico’s president rejected several of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s assertions about her country and even joked that the United States should be called “Mexican America” after Mr. Trump said the Gulf of Mexico should be renamed the Gulf of America.

President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico used her Wednesday morning news conference to show a world map dating from 1607. The map labeled North America as Mexican America and already identified the Gulf of Mexico as such, 169 years before the United States was founded.

“Why don’t we call it Mexican America? It sounds pretty, no?” Ms. Sheinbaum said while pointing to the map and smiling.

In response to Mr. Trump’s comment that Mexico was “essentially run by the cartels,” Ms. Sheinbaum told reporters on Wednesday that, “with all due respect,” the president-elect was ill-informed. (+ video) » | Emiliano Rodríguez Mega | Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Donald Trump Says US Needs Greenland and Canada for 'National Security' | BBC News

Jan 7, 2025 | US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened "very high" tariffs on Denmark if it resists his effort to take control of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory. Asked during a news conference Tuesday if he would rule out using military or economic force in order to take control of the strategically-important island, he said: "No, I can't assure you on either of those two." "I can say this, we need them for economic security," he said.

Trump also said he would use "economic force" against Canada and called the US-Canada border an "artificially drawn line".


Trump is an objectionable character. Despicable and objectionable. – © Mark Alexander

Mexico’s President Raises Prospect of Retaliatory Tariffs on U.S. Goods

THE NEW YORK TIMES: President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to President-elect Trump’s threat to impose high tariffs, saying such a move would inflict damage on both countries.

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, hit back on Tuesday morning at President-elect Trump’s vow to impose 25 percent tariffs on all products coming into the United States from Mexico, signaling that her country was prepared to respond with retaliatory tariffs of its own.

Ms. Sheinbaum also said that raising tariffs would fail to curb illegal migration or the consumption of illicit drugs in the United States, an argument that Mr. Trump had made in his warning on tariffs.

“The best path is dialogue,” Ms. Sheinbaum said at her daily news conference, calling for negotiations with the incoming Trump administration while laying out steps that Mexico has already taken to assuage some of Mr. Trump’s concerns.

Ms. Sheinbaum, reading from a letter she is planning to send to Mr. Trump, noted that illegal crossings at the border between Mexico and the United States had plunged from December 2023 to November 2024, largely as a result of Mexico’s own efforts to stem migration flows within its own territory. » | Simon Romero | Simon Romero reports on Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean | Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Leer en español:

La presidenta de México responde a la amenaza de aranceles de Trump: La presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum leyó el martes una carta destinada al presidente electo Donald Trump en la que habló de las medidas que tomaría su país en respuesta. »

THE WASHINGTON POST:

Trump’s ‘America First’ bullying is back: President-elect Donald Trump isn’t wasting time setting the stage for his second term, with plans for tariffs on goods from Mexico, China and Canada. »

Mexico’s Snub to King Felipe Rekindles Colonialism Row with Spain

THE GUARDIAN: President-elect refuses to invite Spanish king to her inauguration after lack of apology for crimes of conquest

A festering diplomatic row between Mexico and Spain has been reopened after the Latin American country’s leftwing president-elect refused to invite King Felipe to her inauguration because of his failure to apologise for crimes committed against Mexico’s Indigenous people during the conquest 500 years ago.

In 2019, Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador wrote to King Felipe and Pope Francis, calling for them to apologise for the “abuses” of the conquest and the colonial period.

“I have sent a letter to the king of Spain and another to the pope calling for a full account of the abuses and urging them to apologise to the Indigenous peoples [of Mexico] for the violations of what we now call their human rights,” López Obrador said in a video, which he posted to his social media accounts. » | Sam Jones, Madrid correspondent | Thursday, September 26, 2024

US Lawmakers Push for Tougher Policies after Migration Surge along the US-Mexico Border | DW News

Jan 9, 2024 | Record breaking numbers of migrants have been detained trying to cross the US-Mexico border illegally since President Biden took office. Many Republicans, and even some within Biden's own Democratic party, have been pushing for tougher policies.

Church Collapse in Mexico Kills 11 During Collective Baptism

THE NEW YORK TIMES: A church roof fell in a city on Mexico’s Gulf Coast as dozens of parishioners were at Sunday Mass. Rescuers said at least three children were among the dead.


Surveillance footage shows the moment the roof of a church in Ciudad Madero, Mexico, collapsed during Sunday Mass. | Secretary of Public Security Tamaulipas, via Reuters
Rescuers in northern Mexico recovered the bodies of 10 people who died after the roof of a Roman Catholic church collapsed during Sunday Mass in Ciudad Madero, an oil-refining city on the Gulf of Mexico. Among the youngest victims were three children, including a 1-and-a-half-year-old boy.

The roof collapsed during a collective baptism, according to the Diocese of Tampico. About 60 people were injured, and more than 23 of them were hospitalized on Monday morning, the Tamaulipas State security spokesman’s office said. One of those hospitalized died later on Monday, the spokesman said.

About 100 people were inside the Santa Cruz church at the time of the collapse, officials said. » | Emiliano Rodríguez Mega and Simon Romero, Reporting from Mexico City | Monday, October 2, 2023

Mexico’s Supreme Court Decriminalizes Abortion Nationwide

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The decision builds on an earlier high court ruling and reflects how Latin American countries are expanding women’s rights.

Women marching last year in Mexico City during a demonstration on International Safe Abortion Day. | Marco Ugarte/Associated Press
Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalized abortion nationwide on Wednesday in a sweeping decision that builds on an earlier ruling giving officials the authority to allow the procedure on a state-by-state basis.

The court struck down the federal penal code that criminalized abortion, deeming it “unconstitutional” and making abortion legally accessible in all federal health institutions across the country. It also ruled against bans on medical providers, including midwives, who perform the procedure.

The ruling in Mexico, a predominantly Catholic country of 130 million people, points to how nations in Latin America are taking a leading role in broadening abortion rights.

“I’m very moved and very proud,” said Rebeca Ramos, executive director of GIRE, a leading abortion rights group that filed an injunction last year against the Mexican regulation from 1931 that criminalized the procedure. “This makes possible what we had not achieved in many years, which is that at least in certain institutions all across the country legal and safe abortion services can be provided.” » | Simon Romero and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega, Reporting from Mexico City | Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Leer en español.

California Braces for 'Catastrophic' Impact of Hurricane Hilary | DW News

Aug 20, 2023 | Hurricane Hilary has brought flooding, high winds and at least one death to Mexico's Baja California. It's quickly advancing north toward heavily populated south-western states in the US. Authorities there warn of potentially life-threatening flooding.

La tempête tropicale Hilary touche terre au Mexique et menace les Etats-Unis : Rétrogradée d’ouragan à tempête tropicale, Hilary a déjà causé la mort d’une personne au Mexique, emportée avec son véhicule par une brutale montée des eaux. »