Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum refuted Donald Trump’s claim that she agreed to close her country’s border with the United States after the president-elect issued a statement saying she did.
On Wednesday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to claim that Sheinbaum had “agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border,” during a phone call earlier in the day.
In a statement, Sheinbaum suggested that Mexico is already doing its part to stem the flow of migrants and has no interest in closing the country’s northern border with the United States.
“In our conversation with President Trump, I explained to him the comprehensive strategy that Mexico has followed to address the migration phenomenon, respecting human rights,” Sheinbaum wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, according to a translation from CNN.
“Thanks to this, migrants and caravans are assisted before they arrive at the border,” she added. “We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples.”
The leaders spoke days after Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico unless both countries do more to stop illegal immigration and drugs.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden called Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports “counterproductive.”
“I hope he rethinks it, and I think it’s a counterproductive thing to do,” Biden told reporters during his Thanksgiving Day visit to a fire station in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
“We have an unusual situation in America. We’re surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and two allies: Mexico and Canada,” Biden continued. “The last thing we need to do is begin to screw up both relationships.”
