Sheinbaum says Mexico prepared for tariffs, vows dialogue with US

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said Mexico is prepared for any scenario, after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on imports from Mexico.

On Thursday, Trump said he would levy tariffs of 25% on imports from Canada and Mexico, which may be applied from as early as Saturday,

“We have a plan A, plan B and plan C for whatever the United States government decides,” Sheinbaum said at her press conference in Mexico City on Friday. “We're prepared for any scenario. We've been prepared for months.”

Since Trump’s election in November, Sheinbaum said she has stepped up dialogue with the US on topics such as fentanyl, migration and trade.

“Dialogue will always be maintained,” she said on Friday. “What we want is for respectful dialogue to prevail.”

Sheinbaum noted that some of Mexico’s largest exporters to the US are US-owned companies, including companies in the automotive and semiconductor sectors.

Economy minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Friday that he has been holding weekly meetings with Sheinbaum about the tariff threat and about the future of the USMCA free trade treaty between the US, Mexico and Canada.

Oil and gas in focus

On Thursday, Trump said the US administration had not decided whether to impose tariffs on exports of oil from Canada and Mexico.

“Oil is going to have nothing to do with it as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) association estimates that about 60% of crude imports in the US come from Canada, while about 11% come from Mexico's federal oil company Pemex.

In recent years Pemex has been exporting less oil to the US and sending more of its output to its own refineries for processing.

The gradual ramp-up of operations at the US$20bn Olmeca oil refinery in the southeastern port of Dos Bocas is expected to continue to reduce Mexican oil exports to the US.

The facility will have processing capacity of 340,000b/d (barrels per day) when it is fully operational.

For its part, the US is a major exporter of natural gas to Mexico.

Mexico meets about 70% of its natural gas needs with low-cost shale gas from the US.

That has raised concerns that Trump could use natural gas as a bargaining chip in negotiations,

To increase security of its energy supply, the Mexican government is reportedly planning to double its natural gas storage capacity.