President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico said on Wednesday that she did not expect the United States to impose tariffs this weekend, despite the Trump administration’s affirmation a day earlier that the tariff plan was still under consideration for enforcement as of Feb. 1.
“We don’t think it’s going to happen really,” she said during her daily morning news conference. “And if it happens, we also have our plan.”
Ms. Sheinbaum declined to detail the plan, but she has previously said that her country is prepared to respond with retaliatory tariffs of its own. Through Mexico’s Foreign Ministry, she said officials were still in talks with the Trump administration.
Mr Trump, who has also threatened to impose tariffs on Canada, warned Mexico that he would do so on that country if it did not do enough, in his eyes, to curb illegal migration or the flow of drugs into the United States.
During the same Wednesday news conference, Ms. Sheinbaum said that 50,000 jobs were awaiting migrants who returned to Mexico — a response to Mr. Trump’s vow to carry out historic levels of mass deportations. The largest number of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States are from Mexico, numbering an estimated four million as of 2022, according to the Pew Research Center.
Mexican officials have crafted a vast initiative, called Mexico Embraces You, in response to Mr. Trump’s pledge. Plans are underway to build 10 reception centers along the border — huge tents set up in parking lots, stadiums and warehouses — and to bus people to their hometowns, provide medical attention, enroll the recently returned in social welfare programs and more.
In regards to the Gulf of Mexico, for which Mr. Trump issued a new U.S. name — the Gulf of America — on his first day in office, Ms. Sheinbaum said that her government planned to send a letter to Google on Wednesday about the company’s plan to follow suit on its popular mapping service.
Google said earlier this week that it would update its labeling to “Gulf of America” for U.S. users as soon as the U.S. government updated its official maps, citing the company’s “longstanding practice” to honor government sources.
Even after the planned change, Google users in Mexico will continue to see the body of water labeled “Gulf of Mexico.” Users elsewhere in the world will see both names side by side, the company said.
Ms. Sheinbaum said that there was a difference between a continental shelf, territorial waters, exclusive economic zones and international waters. While she said she planned to make her the letter to Google on Thursday, she noted on Wednesday that it would tell the company about those differences.
“It is very important that everything is put in its proper context according to the publications,” she said. “In order to change the name of an international sea, it is not a country that changes it, it is an international organization.”
With a smile, Ms. Sheinbaum added that her government would ask Google to label North America as “Mexican America,” referencing a 1607 world map she displayed earlier in the month.
