Mexico did not slap tariffs on US goods before Trump inauguration
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"The President of Mexico signed an official document ordering tariffs on products made in the United States. Does she know what are the consequences?" says the text over a December 23, 2024 TikTok video.
The same video was shared on other platforms including X, Facebook and Gettr, with comments suggesting that Sheinbaum was making a pre-emptive move after Trump announced in November a plan to impose 25 percent duties on goods from Mexico and Canada to pressure US neighbors to curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
Others made the same claim in Spanish and Chinese.
Sheinbaum has said her government would respond to any new US tariffs, but dismissed Trump's claim that Mexico would close its borders.
And the claims of a pre-emptive tariff move by Mexico against the United States are false.
Using the watermark on the clip, AFP found the TikTok video was first published December 19 by the Spanish-language news site Latin US (archived here), with the caption in Spanish: "Claudia Sheinbaum firma decreto para incrementar los aranceles a la importación de textiles" (Claudia Sheinbaum signs an order to increase tariffs on textile imports).
The event was also seen on the Mexican government's YouTube account.
The government published a press release on the new measures and the announcement was covered by AFP and other news organizations, which noted that the country's trading partners, including the United States and Canada would be exempt from the tariffs.
The North American Free Trade Agreement has been in place since 1992 and under the first Trump administration it was replaced by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement -- which came into force on July 1, 2020.
Mexican officials said the new tariffs did not target any specific countries but reports noted concerns about low-cost imports from China entering the North American market.
While Trump has offered few specifics of his proposed tariffs on the key trading partners, analysts say they may indeed spark retaliation from Mexico and Canada and jeopardize the trilateral trade agreement.
Trump's inauguration is set for January 20, 2025.
AFP has fact-checked other claims about Trump's proposed tariffs here and here.
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