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Mexico doesn't 'want a conflict,' Mexican president says as China calls for utmost caution on planned tariff hikes

Global Times

By Global Times Published: Sep 12, 2025 11:02 AM

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reportedly said on Thursday local time that her government is in contact with the embassies of countries including China to explain its tariff plans. The remarks came after the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on Thursday urged Mexico to exercise utmost caution and think carefully before acting on tariffs.

"We don't want a conflict," Sheinbaum told a morning press conference on Thursday local time, adding that the measures were intended to boost Mexico's economy and that her government was in talks with ambassadors from countries impacted by the proposed measures, Reuters reported.

Sheinbaum added that her government is in contact with the embassies of China and South Korea to explain its plans, which she argued seek to strengthen the Mexican economy, Bloomberg reported.

Sheinbaum's government announced on Wednesday that it was raising tariffs on Chinese autos to a maximum level of 50 percent as part of a broad overhaul of import levies across hundreds of goods. The measures against countries with which Mexico does not hold trade deals sparked comments that Mexico had announced these measures in order to appease its top trade partner, according to Reuters.

"That is not the objective," Sheinbaum said when asked about this during the press conference, saying the measures were intended to strengthen local production capacity as part of an industrial strategy proposed before US President Donald Trump was elected last year, Reuters reported.

"What we want to is to be able to discuss things without the need to generate any conflict," she added, according to the report.

On Thursday, asked to comment on Mexico's tariff plan and analysis that Mexico's tariff hike is in line with the US' long-standing attempt to contain China, will serve future trade negotiations between Mexico and its North American partners, and is in line with the "Mexico Plan" strategy to strengthen domestic production and consumption, a spokesperson for the MOFCOM said that China will closely monitor Mexico's tariff moves and carefully evaluate any final measures.

Given widespread global opposition to the unilateral tariff impositions by the US, all countries should strengthen communication and coordination to jointly defend free trade and multilateralism, the spokesperson said, stressing that the interests of third parties must never be sacrificed due to coercion from others.

In this context, any unilateral tariff increases by Mexico, even within the framework of WTO rules, will be seen as appeasement and compromise to unilateral bullying, and once implemented, these measures will not only harm the interests of relevant trading partners, including China, but will also seriously affect the certainty of Mexico's business environment and reduce companies' confidence in investing in Mexico, the spokesperson noted.

"China and Mexico are important economic and trade partners to each other. We do not want to see the economic and trade cooperation between the two sides affected. We hope that the Mexican side will exercise utmost cautious and think twice before acting," the spokesperson said.

China opposes all forms of unilateralism, protectionism and discriminatory measures, as well as any actions that harm China's interests, and will take necessary measures based on actual circumstances to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, the spokesperson added.

Also commenting on Mexico's tariff plan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Wednesday that China advocates a universally-beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, opposes all forms of unilateralism, protectionism and discriminatory and exclusive measures, and firmly rejects moves that are taken under coercion to constrain China or undermine China's legitimate rights and interests under any pretext.

"We will firmly protect our rights and interests in light of the developments of the situation," Lin stressed.