MEXICO CITY — Mexico's Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, urged “prudence” on Friday following the US Supreme Court ruling invalidating part of President Trump's broad tariff regime.
“We have to see where this goes,” Ebrard told reporters. “We have to see what measures [Washington] It's going to take to determine how it's going to affect our country. “
Amid widespread concern about tariffs in Mexico (the United States' main trading partner, with almost a trillion dollars in annual two-way trade), Ebrard warned: “I tell them to go into Zen mode. As calm as possible.”
Around the world, nations were assessing how the high court ruling might affect them. Some world leaders expressed relief or satisfaction with Friday's decision.
“The judges have shown that not even an American president acts in a legal vacuum. Legal limits have been established, the era of unlimited and arbitrary tariffs may be coming to an end,” Bernd Lange, president of the European Parliament's International Trade Committee, wrote in X.
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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, when asked about the tariffs,
He said: “We will review the resolution carefully and then we will be happy to give our opinion.”
Ebrard said he plans to travel to the United States next week to clarify matters.
Last year, Ebrard noted, Mexico managed to avoid Trump's threats to impose a general 25% tax on all Mexican imports.
However, Mexico has been rejecting the Trump administration's tariffs on imports of vehicles, steel and aluminum, among other products.
Among other impacts, the Supreme Court struck down so-called fentanyl tariffs on Mexico, China and Canada. The Trump administration imposed those taxes in an attempt to force the three nations to crack down on trafficking in the deadly synthetic opioid.
Following Friday's ruling, Trump said he planned to pursue alternative legal avenues to impose the now-removed tariffs.
Around 85% of Mexican exports to the United States are exempt from tariffs thanks to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The signed agreement expanded a largely free trade regime between the three nations, replacing the previous North American Free Trade Agreement.
The tripartite pact is scheduled for a joint review starting July 1. That date marks six years since the agreement was signed during Trump's first presidential term.
