Free Republic

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s government on Monday signaled that it planned to hit back with trade restrictions of its own if President-elect Donald J. Trump followed through on his threats to impose sky-high tariffs on Mexican exports to the United States. “If you put 25 percents tariffs on me, I have to react with tariffs,” Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s economy minister, told a radio interviewer on Monday. “Structurally, we have the conditions to play in Mexico’s favor,” he added. “A tariff war doesn’t end well,” said Valeria Moy, the general director of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, an economic research institute....

The Mexican ambassador to the United States, Martha Bárcena , explained to American interlocutors the reason for the country's decision to wait to congratulate the winner of the presidential election in the American Union. On the instructions of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the Secretary of Foreign Relations, Marcelo Ebrard , the Mexican diplomat stated that such a decision is based on the principles of foreign policy, which are enshrined in the Mexican Constitution, particularly in the principle of non-intervention. , as well as in the history of the country. "Today I explained to US interlocutors the position of...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General William Barr spoke with Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard last week to try to lower bilateral tension arising from the U.S. arrest of a former Mexican defense minister on drugs charges, two Mexican sources said on Monday. Mexico says it should have had prior warning about the arrest and investigation of the former minister and retired army officer, Salvador Cienfuegos, who pleaded not guilty to drug charges in a Brooklyn federal court last week. Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he will announce a review of security cooperation agreements with the...

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Monday that his country would reject a proposed solution to the immigration and tariff stand-off with the U.S. that would involve it keeping Central American asylum seekers. The proposal, which has not been formally made by the U.S., would involve Mexico being designated a "safe third country" for the immigrants, meaning that refugees passing through Mexico to the U.S. would first have to claim asylum in Mexico. The U.S. has a similar agreement with Canada. "An agreement about a safe third country would not be acceptable for Mexico,” Ebrard told reporters shortly before a...