Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced a new economic plan on Monday to curb imports from China, in a slight show of solidarity with President-elect Donald Trump.
Sheinbaum spoke in defense of the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade pact, which she said in the only way for the three nations to realistically compete with China. The deal is up for review in 2026. Trump has previously accused Mexico of being a backdoor to Chinese goods, an acquisition Mexico denies as trade tensions remain high with the president-elect's threat of tariffs once he's in office. Trump had also warned of the domestic consequences of "near-shoring," where manufacturing is moved closer to the physical territory of another nation, in this case from China to Mexico.
Mexico has since cracked down on contraband goods coming into the country from Asia and rolled out tariffs of their own this week targeting e-commerce giants such as Shein and Temu.
In November, Trump warned nations that did not address the illegal flow of migrants and drugs that he would impose on his first day in office a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico. He noted that such tariffs will "remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!"
Sheinbaum said that her agenda will make investors see Mexico as a reliable place to put their money with a goal of making the country one of the world's top 10 economies by 2030, up from 12th currently.
"Our objective is to expand to the entire American Continent, which is the vision we want to have in order to be the region with the greatest potential and development in the world," Sheinbaum said.
The National Chamber of the Textile Industry (CANAINTEX) of Mexico and the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) applauded Sheinbaum's efforts to fight the Chinese companies in a letter to the president reading, "Despite the legal efforts of Mexico and the United States to prevent the importation of goods that are undervalued, made with forced labor or with tariff or regulatory restrictions, we have seen firsthand how the Asian market has gained an unfair advantage through predatory trade practices, displacing companies and workers in the USMCA industries and undermining our critical coproduction chain."