Photo: Estrategia y Negocio Magazine

By: Roberto Morejón

The United States is dragging Mexico into a trade war that also involves Canada and China, although the effects of the crusade will be felt in the northern power itself.

Donald Trump's administration has unilaterally decided to impose tariffs of 25 percent on Mexican and Canadian imports, a move described as a stab in the well-publicized T-MEC, the trade agreement between the three countries.

For Mexico, this is a serious blow, since both domestic and foreign companies will be affected, all because Washington says it is not cooperating in immigration controls and is not tough enough in the fight against fentanyl trafficking.

They do not think so in Mexico, where they highlight the increase in operations to stop the passage of the deadly drug and the deployment of tens of thousands of military troops to the border to prevent illegal crossings.

In Mexico, people rightly wonder what the U.S. authorities are doing to stop the lucrative drug trade and neutralize the drug trafficking mafias.

The government of President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has called for patience and reason, has done its part to avoid the imposition of U.S. tariffs by entering into bilateral negotiations.

Therefore, the president, who demands respect for Mexico's sovereignty, called for a public meeting to announce the answers to the unilateral maneuver of her neighbor.

Mexicans are wondering how the unbridled U.S. administration is not thinking about the damage that the price hike will cause to the industrialized nation's own citizens and businesses.

Experts also predict damage to job creation in both countries, given the extent of economic integration.

In the case of Mexico, 80 percent of its exports go to the North, which is a disadvantage and forces the government to evaluate the future geographic diversification of its economy.

The sharp tariff differential highlights the harmfulness of using pressure, insults, coercion, and threats in interstate relations.

Sheinbaum was emphatic: there are no winners in a trade war, beyond the fact that the United States is dealing a body blow to a historic trade relationship.

As the head of a fleet of trucks that cross the border daily said, the imposition of tariffs on Mexico represents "a wall in our trade relationship.