Donald Trump once again put Mexico at the center of the trade controversy last Friday when, from the Oval Office, he claimed that his southern neighbor has nothing to offer the United States but “spicy tamales and tomatoes,” while threatening to cut trade with countries that maintain a surplus against Washington.
The statements arose while the president was answering journalists' questions about his stance on the nations with which the United States has a trade deficit.
"If we stopped trading with them, we wouldn't lose anything. It would only take a single signature. We lose $195 billion a year with Mexico. They don't have anything that we really need. I mean, they have spicy tamales, tomatoes, a couple of things... but basically, they don't have anything we need," Trump stated.
The president added that his country has all the resources to be self-sufficient: "We have oil, we have everything."
In 2025, Mexican exports to the United States reached a historic record of $534.874 billion, despite the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. The U.S. trade deficit with the Aztec nation was $196.913 billion, the highest negative balance between the two countries.
Despite the harshness of his words, the Republican leader softened his tone when referring to the Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum and dismissed any notion of a break in commercial ties.
"I don't want to do that because we get along very well with the president. We like the president, we respect her a lot," he noted.
Sheinbaum, for her part, acknowledged last Tuesday from the National Palace that the relationship with Washington has had "its difficulties", although she expressed confidence in dialogue: "In trade matters, we have ongoing dialogue with the government of the United States and we hope to reach an understanding."
The president was referring to the upcoming review of the trade treaty between Mexico, the USA, and Canada (USMCA), one of the central pillars in the bilateral economic relationship.
In July, during the last meeting, the U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer, and the Mexican Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, agreed to resume talks in September.
On that occasion, the Trump administration announced that it would not renew the USMCA in its current format, just as the mandatory six-year review period of the agreement was set to expire. The reason: it believes that the agreement benefits its neighbors more than the United States.
"I'm not looking to renew it. We don't need anything that Canada has. We don't need anything that Mexico has, but they need everything we have. They need to treat us better," the U.S. president stated in June.
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