Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum says Canada "could only wish they had the cultural riches Mexico has" following a threat by President-elect Donald Trump to impose tariffs on both countries over the flow of migrants and drugs into the U.S.
Sheinbaum made the remark after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined Trump for dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, during which he spoke to the president-elect about his border concerns, Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador in Washington, told The Associated Press.
"The message that our border is so vastly different than the Mexican border was really understood," Hillman said Sunday.
Sheinbaum then told the AP the following day that "Mexico must be respected, especially by its trading partners," adding that Canada had its own problems with fentanyl consumption and "could only wish they had the cultural riches Mexico has."
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U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border during the last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border, the AP reported.
On immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests at the Mexican border in October alone, while there were only 23,721 arrests at the Canadian border between October 2023 and September 2024. During the same period, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 1.53 million encounters with migrants at the southwest border with Mexico.
"As everyone is aware, thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before," Trump wrote last week on Truth Social.
"On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders. This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!" Trump added.
Sheinbaum also said to the AP that during her own conversation last week with Trump, he "had agreed" that Mexico wanted to focus on intelligence sharing in anti-drug efforts, noting "he said that in his opinion that was good."
However, she said Mexico would reject any direct U.S. intervention in Mexico and continue to enforce the tight restrictions on U.S. law enforcement agencies in Mexico imposed by her predecessor.
"That is going to be maintained," she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
