MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday Mexico would retaliate if US President-elect Donald Trump followed through with his proposed 25% across-the-board tariff, a move her government warned could kill 400,000 US jobs and drive up prices for US consumers.

“If there are US tariffs, Mexico would also raise tariffs,” Ms. Sheinbaum said during a press conference, in her clearest statement yet that the country was preparing possible retaliatory trade measures against its top trade partner.

Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard, speaking alongside Sheinbaum, called for more regional cooperation and integration instead of a war of retaliatory import taxes.

“It’s a shot in the foot,” Mr. Ebrard said of Mr. Trump’s proposed tariffs, which appear to violate the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal between Mexico, Canada and the US.

Mr. Ebrard warned the tariffs would lead to massive US job losses, lower growth and hit US companies producing in Mexico by effectively doubling the taxes they paid. “The impact on companies is huge,” he said.

The proposed tariffs would hit the automotive sector’s top cross-border exporters especially hard, Mr. Ebrard added, namely Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.

Mr. Ebrard noted that 88% of pickup trucks sold in the US are made in Mexico and would see a price increase. These vehicles are popular in rural areas that overwhelmingly voted for Mr. Trump.

“Our estimate is that the average price of these vehicles will increase by $3,000,” Mr. Ebrard said.

Ms. Sheinbaum and Mr. Trump spoke by phone later on Wednesday, with the two discussing topics at the top of Mr. Trump’s agenda.

Mr. Trump had said the tariffs would remain in effect until the flow of drugs — particularly fentanyl — and migrants into the US was controlled.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr. Trump said Ms. Sheinbaum “agreed to stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.” He described the conversation as “very productive.”

Ms. Sheinbaum later responded on X that she had laid out Mexico’s migration strategy, which “attended to” migrants before they arrived at the US-Mexico border, in her call with Mr. Trump.

“Mexico’s stance is not to close borders, but to build bridges between governments and their peoples,” she added.

In after-hours trading on Wednesday, Mexico’s peso strengthened by as much as nearly 1% against the dollar, reversing losses logged in previous days.

Many analysts regard Mr. Trump’s tariff threats as more of a negotiating tactic than trade policy.

“The lack of a clear link between this threat and questions related to trade suggests the new president plans to use tariffs as a negotiating strategy to achieve goals largely unrelated to trade,” said David Kohl, chief economist at Julius Baer.

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Mexico’s automotive industry is the country’s most important manufacturing sector, exporting predominantly to the United States. It represents nearly 25% of all North American vehicle production.

Analysts at Barclays said they estimate the proposed tariffs “could wipe out effectively all profits” from the Detroit Three automakers.

“While it’s generally understood that a blanket 25% tariff on any vehicles or content from Mexico or Canada could be disruptive, investors under-appreciate how disruptive this could be,” they wrote in a note on Tuesday.

Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for Mr. Trump’s transition team, said the tariffs would protect US manufacturers and workers from “unfair practices of foreign companies and foreign markets.”

Mr. Hughes said Mr. Trump would implement policies to make life affordable and more prosperous for his country.

GM and Stellantis declined to comment. Ford did not comment on how the threatened tariffs would affect its business but said it manufactures more vehicles in the United States than most major automakers.

Mexico’s automotive industry group AMIA said it would prepare for any possibility and wait to see what formal actions are taken.

The Institute of International Finance, a trade group for the global financial services industry, warned Mexico-US relations would be challenging going forward.

“The imposition of tariffs, eventually leading to increased protectionism, and other policies affecting exchange rates and commodity prices could have significant implications for the region,” it said in a note.

The USMCA is up for review in 2026.

Katia Goya, director of international economics at Grupo Financiero Banorte, said it was likely the three USMCA countries would seek wholesale renegotiation of the pact rather than just rubber-stamp it to continue in its current form.

“The effect of a trade-conflict situation is that it will mean lower economic growth in the United States, higher unemployment and higher inflation,” Ms. Goya said.

Mr. Ebrard said USMCA trade amounted to $1.78 trillion in the first nine months of this year.

“We can fragment and divide with tariffs,” Mr. Ebrard said. “Mexico does not want conflicts and divisions, but to build a stronger region.” — Reuters

LONDON — Britain on Thursday set out stronger sanctions against employers who exploit foreign workers, following research showing abuses particularly in the social care sector.

Businesses that repeatedly flout visa rules or commit serious employment breaches, such as not paying the minimum wage, will be barred from recruiting foreign workers for two years, up from the current 12 months, the government said.

Seema Malhotra, the minister for migration and citizenship, said worker exploitation was unacceptable.

“Shamefully, these practices have been seen particularly in our care sector, where workers coming to the UK to support our health and social care service have all too often found themselves plunged into unjustifiable insecurity and debt. This can, and must, end.”

Britain opened up a new visa route for social care jobs in 2021 to fill thousands of vacancies, but a range of factors including low pay and poor working conditions have made migrant workers in the sector more vulnerable to exploitative treatment.

Nearly a third of all care workers in England are migrants, having arrived from countries such as India, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and the Philippines.

New research this month showed that nearly 200 British social care providers allowed to employ foreign workers were found to have a record of labor violations.

Since July 2022, about 450 licenses allowing employers to recruit foreign workers have been revoked in the care sector.

Also included in the measures, action plans that bind companies committing minor visa breaches to specific corrective actions will be applied for 12 months, up from three.

The changes will be part of the new Labor government’s Employment Rights Bill. — Reuters

BEIJING  — China repatriated 240 arrested Chinese gambling and fraud suspects from Cambodia on Thursday, with over 500 more expected to be escorted back, Chinese state media said, as Beijing stepped up a years-long effort to combat Chinese organized crime in Southeast Asia.

The arrested group constituted the second batch China has chartered planes to repatriate from Cambodia after a first round in April when more than 680 were escorted back, China’s national television broadcaster CCTV reported.

As part of efforts to stem cross-border online gambling and fraud carried out through telecom networks, China has partnered with neighbors such as Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines to nab Chinese suspects and have them brought back to China.

The latest deportation follows a week after China and Myanmar dismantled large telecom fraud centers in northern Myanmar, with over 53,000 Chinese nationals arrested since a campaign to combat such fraud began last year.

In September, China and Cambodia strengthened their cooperation against gambling and fraud, signing agreements to enhance law enforcement collaboration and fight Chinese organized crime in the Southeast Asian country.

In 2019, Cambodia banned online gambling, targeting particularly Chinese-run operations that had sprung up in the southern coastal city of Sihanoukville.

“The public security authorities will continue to deepen law enforcement cooperation with relevant countries and regions, carry out focused crackdowns, resolutely dismantle gambling and fraud dens involving Chinese nationals, and firmly curb the high incidence of such crimes,” CCTV said.

China has also repatriated thousands of suspects under its covert global “Operation Fox Hunt” operation launched a decade ago to fight corruption and economic crimes and has since recovered billions of dollars in assets. — Reuters