Mexico lifts wall stakes Retaliation levies on US goods Trump card up sleeve

MEXICO CITY: Mexico has hardened its opposition to President Donald Trump by saying it would retaliate if the US imposed a border tax and that it can afford to lose financial aid that might be pulled to pay for a border wall.

Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said Mexico could respond to any tax the US were to unilaterally impose on imports from its southern neighbour to finance the wall with levies on select goods, aimed at US regions most dependent on exports south of the border.

“Without a doubt, we have that possibility, and what we cannot do is remain with our arms crossed,” Videgaray said in a radio interview on Friday.

“The Mexican Government would have to respond.”

The statements by Mr Videgaray and Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, who minimised the potential impact of the rumoured loss of US security aid, toughened the defiant tone from Mexico since President Enrique Pena Nieto last month cancelled a trip to meet Mr Trump over the wall dispute.

Mexicans are angry at Mr Trump’s calls for US firms not to invest south of the border, insults to immigrants and threats to make Mexico finance the border wall. The peso currency has weakened on concerns he will hurt Latin America’s No. 2 economy.

Pena Nieto had faced criticism he was too accommodating with Mr Trump but got a much needed ratings boost after cancelling the summit.

A plan to deport third- country nationals to Mexico fuelled outrage this week.

Mexican officials were publicly blunt with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security John Kelly over Mr Trump’s immigration and trade proposals in a visit to Mexico on Thursday.

Osorio Chong told local radio that Mexican officials’ rejection of Mr Trump’s bid to send non-Mexican illegal migrants from the US to Mexico was “very clear”.

“They asked us if (nonMexican illegal immigrants) could be here while they are going through the legal process there. We said that there was ... absolutely no way.”

Mr Videgaray said the trade strategy would replicate a 2009 campaign of retaliatory tariffs that helped Mexico win a dispute with the US. “This is not our preference,” he said.