Carlos Gimenez outlines what Mexico stood to lose in tariff deal

Mexico is facing a 25% tariff that was initially slated to begin on Tuesday. This comes after a yearslong border crisis in which immigrants illegally crossed the border, and there was an increase in fentanyl discovered among states sharing borders with Mexico.

“We are by far the largest economy in the world. Eighty percent of all exports that the Mexicans produce go into the United States,” Gimenez said on Fox Business’s Mornings with Maria Bartiromo on Monday. “If you slap heavy tariffs on that where we’re no longer buying Mexican goods, it’s going to hurt them a lot more than it’s gonna hurt us. I think President Trump just wants to have a fair deal. I don’t think he wants to take advantage of anybody.”

In response, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum threatened retaliatory tariffs but didn’t outline the cost. Instead, in a phone call with Trump on Monday, she promised to provide 10,000 Mexican troops on the border who are “specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal immigrants,” according to Trump. The tariff is on a temporary pause for a month.

“I made a promise on my campaign to stop the flood of illegal aliens and drugs from pouring across our borders, and Americans overwhelmingly voted in favor of it,” Trump said as he signed the executive order that authorized the tariff.

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Meanwhile, Canada, which is facing the same 25% tariff, mirrored the tactic and unleashed 25% tariffs on $155 billion of U.S. goods. China filed a lawsuit against the U.S. with the World Trade Organization over its 10% tariff.

Other tariffs against China were already in place from Trump’s first term, and former President Joe Biden largely kept them. The last tariff raised against China was in May 2024, when Biden announced tariffs against $18 billion worth of Chinese goods and effectively raised sale taxes in the U.S. by $3.6 billion.