Trump's tariff threats create division between Canada, Mexico over security at borders
Mexico City (AP/PTI): Threats by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to impose tariffs have created a split between Canada and Mexico, after Canadian officials said problems with the two countries' borders shouldn't be compared.
On Monday, Mexico's president rejected those comments, which were made following a meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“Mexico must be respected, especially by its trading partners,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said, after Canada's ambassador to the US, Kirsten Hillman, told The Associated Press on Sunday that “the message that our border is so vastly different than the Mexican border was really understood”.
Sheinbaum said Canada had its own problems with fentanyl consumption and “could only wish they had the cultural riches Mexico has”.
Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico unless they stem the flow of migrants and drugs.
Flows of migrants and seizures of drugs at the two countries' border are vastly different.
US customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border during the last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border. Mexico's efforts to seize fentanyl before it reaches the US have been lackluster.
Most of the fentanyl reaching the US — where it causes about 70,000 overdose deaths annually — is made by Mexican drug cartels using precursor chemicals smuggled from Asia.
On immigration, the US Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests at the Mexican border in October alone, while there were only 23,721 arrests at the Canadian border between October 2023 and September 2024. During the same period, US Customs and Border Protection reported 1.53 million encounters with migrants at the southwest border withe Mexico.
Mexico feels especially hurt by the Canadian comments, because Mexican officials claim their government went to bat for Canada in the past. They claim that Trump, during his first term, initially wanted to leave Canada out of the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement in 2018, and Mexico demanded it be included. It is unclear if that was actually the case.
Trudeau also got ahead of Sheinbaum by meeting with the US president-elect first. Both leaders are scrambling to get some assurances before Trump takes office.
Hillman said Canada is ready to make new investments in border security and there are plans for more helicopters, drones and law enforcement officers. She also noted an agreement between Canada and the US that allows for migrants caught crossing illegally to be sent back to Canada. She said Mexico and the US do not have a similar agreement.
On Monday, Sheinbaum revealed more about her own conversation last week with Trump, saying he “had agreed” that Mexico wanted to focus on intelligence sharing in anti-drug efforts, noting “he said that in his opinion that was good”.
But she said Mexico would reject any direct US intervention in Mexico and continue to enforce the tight restrictions on US law enforcement agencies in Mexico imposed by her predecessor. “That is going to maintained,” she said.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
