WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Thursday warned against damaging relations with Canada and Mexico after his incoming successor Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on both US neighbors.
“I think it’s a counterproductive thing to do,” Biden told reporters when asked about Trump’s plan. “The last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships. I think we got them in a good place.”
The comments come a day after Trump spoke by phone with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum about US-bound migration and drug trafficking, over which he has threatened to slap a 25 percent tariff on the southern neighbour.
Both leaders described the call positively, though Sheinbaum later downplayed Trump’s claims that she had agreed to “stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”
Following the call on Wednesday, Trump said Sheinbaum had “agreed to stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”
Writing on X, Sheinbaum insisted that she had explained Mexico’s current “comprehensive strategy” on migration.
“Thanks to this, migrants and caravans are attended to before they reach the border,” she said on X.
Tuve una excelente conversación con el presidente Donald Trump. Abordamos la estrategia mexicana sobre el fenómeno de la migración y compartí que no están llegando caravanas a la frontera norte porque son atendidas en México.
También hablamos de reforzar la colaboración en… pic.twitter.com/PlGS5w3ZpC
— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) November 27, 2024
“We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between government and peoples,” she added.
Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard on Wednesday also warned that some 400,000 jobs would be lost in the United States if Trump followed through on his tariff plan.
En nuestra conversación con el presidente Trump, le expuse la estrategia integral que ha seguido México para atender el fenómeno migratorio, respetando los derechos humanos. Gracias a ello se atiende a las personas migrantes y a las caravanas previo a que lleguen a la frontera.…
— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) November 28, 2024
“That is why we say that it would be a shot in the foot,” Ebrard said.
Addressing reporters in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he was spending the Thanksgiving holiday with his family, Biden also talked about the importance of maintaining a working relationship with China.
“We’ve set up a hotline between President Xi and myself, as well as our military, a direct line,” Biden said, adding he was “confident” that his Chinese counterpart “doesn’t want to make a mistake.”
“I’m not saying that he is our best buddy, but he understands what’s at stake.”
Trump on Monday said he would impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico when he takes office in January until they clamped down on drugs and migrants crossing the border, a move that would appear to violate the US-Mexico-Canada free-trade deal.
In a phone call after Trump’s post, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau listed things Canada has already done to improve the situation at the border and suggested Canada’s situation wasn’t as dire as Mexico’s.
Trudeau said his conversation with the president-elect as a “good call” during which he laid out the “facts.”
