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Why Trump Is Imposing Tariffs on Mexico

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Why Trump Is Imposing Tariffs on Mexico

President Trump on Saturday ordered 25 percent tariffs on all Mexican exports to the United States and a similar levy on all Canadian goods, except for a 10 percent tariff on Canadian energy. His move sent shock waves through both nations, whose leaders have warned that the tariffs will harm all three countries and disrupt their deeply interwoven economies.

On his first day in office, Mr. Trump had vowed to impose punitive tariffs on Mexican and Canadian exports on Feb. 1, to force the two countries to better secure their borders against the flow of undocumented migrants and drugs.

The tariffs target the United States’ closest neighbors and key trading partners. Mexico became the United States’ largest trading partner last year, exporting a variety of goods, including automobiles and avocados, while Canada is the largest foreign supplier of crude oil to the United States.

Mexican officials have criticized the tariffs, arguing that they will not only harm Mexico’s economy, but will also hurt U.S. companies that have production plants in Mexico, including General Motors and Ford. American consumers are also likely to see higher prices for fruits, vegetables and other products.

President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico said on Friday that the country was “prepared for any scenario.” She has suggested that Mexico could retaliate with tariffs of its own.

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Here is what to know about the tariffs:

Mr. Trump placed Mexico and the U.S. southern border at the center of his presidential campaign, railing against record levels of undocumented immigrants entering the United States, as well as the movement of fentanyl into the country. (Border crossings are currently at significantly lower than the record levels in 2023.)

Mr. Trump accused Mexico of allowing a “mass migration invasion” into the United States, claiming that this had brought “crime, and drugs,” crushed wages and overwhelmed school systems.

It is not the first time Mr. Trump has used tariffs as a strategy to achieve policy objectives involving immigration.

During his first term, he threatened to impose taxes on Mexican products to pressure the country’s president at the time, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, into cracking down on migration.

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As a result, Mexico deployed National Guard officers across the country to take on illegal immigration and agreed to the expansion of a program that allowed migrants seeking asylum in the United States to remain in Mexico while their legal cases proceeded.

Mexico has significantly increased immigration enforcement in recent years, particularly during the Biden administration. It has added hundreds of immigration checkpoints across the country, including along once-deserted sections of the border, conducted inspections on commercial bus routes and drastically increased detentions.

To deter people from reaching border cities like Tijuana, a top migrant entry point near San Diego, Mexican authorities raided hotels and safe houses, increased security at official crossings and installed new border checkpoints where migrants were passing through a gap in a wall.

Mexico also moved migrants away from the border, using chartered flights and buses to drop large numbers of people in southern cities like Villahermosa. The strategy contributed to a plunge in apprehensions of people trying to cross along the southern border at the start of last year.

The government also introduced bureaucratic obstacles for migrants trying to make it to the United States. At one point, it stopped issuing documents that allowed migrants and refugees to stay in Mexico.

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Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, alluded to these actions this past week when she said the Trump administration had seen a historic level of cooperation from Mexico” on border security.

Ms. Sheinbaum has taken a far tougher line than her predecessor in cracking down on the criminal groups involved in the fentanyl trade.

Mr. López Obrador prioritized tackling the social and economic root causes of drug crime over enforcement actions. But during Ms. Sheinbaum’s first four months in office, Mexican security forces have conducted major seizures of fentanyl and stepped up operations to locate and destroy clandestine fentanyl laboratories. Security forces have also targeted key members of the Sinaloa cartel, the powerful criminal organization largely responsible for the fentanyl pouring over the southern border.

In December, Mexican security forces seized more than a ton of fentanyl, the equivalent of more than 20 million doses of fentanyl pills, in what Ms. Sheinbaum described as “the largest mass seizure of fentanyl pills ever made.”

Mexico’s security minister, Omar García Harfuch, announced this past week that since Ms. Sheinbaum took office on Oct. 1, more than 10,000 people had been arrested on serious criminal charges, including homicide. Mexican authorities also have seized 90 tons of drugs, including more than 1.3 tons of fentanyl, and destroyed more than 139 laboratories, Mr. Garcia Harfuch said.

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Some of the most decisive efforts to curb rampant violence have focused on the state of Sinaloa, where rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel have turned the state into a war zone after Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, a top leader of the cartel, was lured onto a plane under false pretenses and sent to the United States, where he is under indictment.

Though there is no evidence that these enforcement actions have made a significant dent in the Sinaloa cartel’s production abilities, analysts say that it has sent a clear message about Mexico’s commitment to make good on Mr. Trump’s demands.

“There are thousands of clandestine fentanyl kitchens in Sinaloa alone, and the drug is so immensely profitable the cartel is not just going to hand it over to the authorities,” said Eduardo Guerrero, a Mexican security analyst.

“But the important thing was to show that Mexico is working harder and faster and making good in this promise to produce results,” he added.

Mexico has also recently passed a constitutional reform to prohibit the production, distribution and sale of chemical precursors needed to manufacture fentanyl. It has also increased laws around offenses related to fentanyl.

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After Mr. Trump’s victory, Ms. Sheinbaum said he should consider what Mexico has done to curb the flow of fentanyl and illegal immigration.

In a letter to Mr. Trump, Ms. Sheinbaum said a “comprehensive” migration policy to care for migrants arriving in Mexico from different countries and seeking to reach the United States had led to a 75 percent drop in encounters along the United States-Mexico border from December 2023 to November 2024.

Half of the migrants who arrived in the United States entered with a legal appointment to claim asylum since the United States introduced an app that allowed migrants to make those appointments, she added. (The Trump administration has shut down the app-based entry program.)

“For these reasons, migrant caravans no longer arrive at the border,” she said.

Ms. Sheinbaum, in the same letter, reiterated Mexico’s “willingness to prevent the fentanyl epidemic” from continuing to take a toll in the United States, and highlighted enforcement actions that resulted in the seizure of tons of synthetic drugs.

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Iranian man, Romanian woman charged after allegedly trying to enter UK nuclear missile base, officials say

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Iranian man, Romanian woman charged after allegedly trying to enter UK nuclear missile base, officials say

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An Iranian man and a Romanian woman have now been charged after allegedly unsuccessfully attempting to enter a nuclear missile base in Scotland this week, Police Scotland announced Saturday. 

The agency said around 5 p.m. on Thursday, “we were made aware of two people attempting to enter HM Naval Base Clyde.” 

“A 34-year-old Iranian man and a 31-year-old Romanian woman have been arrested and charged in connection with the incident. They are due to appear at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Monday, March 23,” Police Scotland said. “Enquiries are ongoing.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Police Scotland for further comment.

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IRANIAN MAN, SECOND PERSON ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY TRYING TO ENTER UK NUCLEAR MISSILE BASE

HMS Artful, an Astute-class nuclear-powered fleet submarine, is shown at His Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde on March 4, 2025. ((Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Citing the Times, the Telegraph newspaper reported that the suspects were turned away from the base because they lacked the correct passes and were later arrested nearby for allegedly “acting suspiciously in the vicinity.” 

HM Naval Base Clyde — commonly known as Faslane — is considered the primary base for the United Kingdom’s missile fleet. 

The Royal Navy says the base is home “to the core of the Submarine Service, including the nation’s nuclear deterrent, and the new generation of hunter-killer submarines.” 

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TRUMP WARNS OF IRANIAN ‘SLEEPER CELLS’ AS CANADA ACCUSED OF HARBORING REGIME OPERATIVES

A general view of His Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde on March 4, 2025 in Faslane, Scotland.   (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The U.K. Parliament says the Royal Navy currently operates a fleet of nine submarines, with the entire fleet based at HM Naval Base Clyde.

“Five of those are conventionally-armed nuclear-powered attack submarines of the Astute class. A further four are ballistic missiles submarines (SSBN) of the Vanguard class that comprise the UK’s submarine-based nuclear deterrent,” it added. 

HMS Artful, an Astute-class nuclear-powered fleet submarine, is shown at His Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde on March 4, 2025 in Faslane, Scotland. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

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A Royal Navy spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Friday, “Police Scotland have arrested two people who unsuccessfully attempted to enter HM Naval Base Clyde on Thursday 19 March. As the matter is subject to an ongoing investigation, we will not comment further.” 

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Trump threatens to deploy ICE to airports amid Homeland Security shutdown

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Trump threatens to deploy ICE to airports amid Homeland Security shutdown

United States President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy federal immigration agents to the country’s airports to “do Security like no one has ever seen”.

“I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, ‘GET READY,’” Trump wrote in a series of posts on Saturday. “NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!”

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Trump’s warnings on Saturday arrived on the five-week mark of a partial government shutdown that affects the Department of Homeland Security.

Congress missed a February 14 deadline to fund the sprawling department, which includes agencies dedicated to border security, anti-terrorism operations, immigration services and emergency management.

As a result, nearly 50,000 employees at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have been working for weeks without pay.

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That has prompted some airport security agents to call in sick or quit the TSA entirely. The result has been long lines and delays at some of the country’s airports.

In his first post on Truth Social, Trump blamed Democrats for the impasse and threatened to use Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to conduct airport security instead.

“If the Radical Left Democrats don’t immediately sign an agreement to let our Country, in particular, our Airports, be FREE and SAFE again, I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before,” Trump wrote.

He then added that he would task the ICE agents with “the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country, with heavy emphasis on those from Somalia“.

Since taking office for a second term, Trump has led a violent crackdown on immigration, legal and otherwise.

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Somalis and Somali Americans have been a particular target of the Republican president’s ire. In early December, for instance, he called them “garbage” and said they “contribute nothing”.

“I don’t want them in our country. I’ll be honest with you,” Trump said at the time. “Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks. And we don’t want them in our country.”

The Republican leader revisited that sentiment in Saturday’s social media post, once again accusing Somalis of having “totally destroyed” what he called “the once Great State of Minnesota”.

Minnesota has the largest Somali American community in the US, and it is also the home state of one of Trump’s most prominent critics, Representative Ilhan Omar, who came to the US as a child refugee from Somalia.

The Midwestern state was recently the subject of a deadly immigration operation that killed two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in shootings by agents.

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That violence is at the heart of the stalemate over the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the two agencies involved in the recent deaths.

Democrats have called for the Homeland Security Department to reform its immigration enforcement practices, including by implementing rules to require agents to clearly identify themselves, stop racial profiling and seek judicial warrants before entering homes.

Republicans, however, have called those demands non-starters. They have also rejected Democratic proposals to vote on funding for the TSA separately from funding for ICE and other immigration agencies.

To force Democrats to vote for Homeland Security funding, Trump has threatened not to sign any legislation that Congress passes. He has also repeatedly accused Democrats of preventing airport security agents from getting paid.

As of March 17, the TSA has reported that 366 security officers have quit their jobs.

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Absences have also spiked: The TSA noted that the highest rate came at Houston Hobby International Airport on March 14, when the callout rate was 55 percent.

Industry analysts warn that the absences put increased strain on the remaining security officers, who might be more tired and less alert to threats.

It is unclear, however, how ICE agents would improve current conditions at the airport, given that they do not have the same training as TSA agents. Critics also pointed to the risk of militarised actions in civilian spaces like airports, where families and the elderly are present.

“I look forward to seeing ICE in action at our Airports,” Trump wrote in one of his posts.

In another, he doubled down on his criticism against Democrats, calling them “vicious and uncaring”.

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“What they have done to the Department of Homeland Security, our fantastic TSA Officers, and, most importantly, the great people of our Country, is an absolute disgrace,” he wrote.

“If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before!”

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Live possum discovered hiding among plush toys in an Australian airport gift shop

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Live possum discovered hiding among plush toys in an Australian airport gift shop

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Someone was playing possum — or stuffed animal.

Among plush kangaroos, dingoes and Tasmanian devils ready to be bought by parents of antsy children, a live brushtail possum waited in a gift shop at an Australian airport this week.

The wild animal was first noticed by a shopper in the store on Wednesday, retail manager Liam Bloomfield of Hobart Airport in the state of Tasmania said.

“A passenger reported it to …. one of the staff members on shift who couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing,” Bloomfield told The Associated Press. “She then called the (airport) management and said we’ve got a possum in the store.”

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TOURISTS IN LAS VEGAS PAY $1,000 FOR DINNER ON THE STRIP WHILE SHARKS EAT LIKE ROYALTY

A live Australian brushtail possum sits on the display shelf at a terminal shop at Hobart Airport in Hobart, Australia, on Wednesday.  (Melissa Oddie via AP)

Staff at the airport were able to remove the animal without harming it.

“I’m imaging it saw some of the plush animals that were for sale on the shelf and it decided to make its home with those,” Bloomfield joked of why the possum was hiding with the stuffed toys. “It wanted to blend in.”

EXPERT SOUNDS ALARM AFTER STUDY FINDS POPULAR TRAVEL ITEM CARRIES FAR MORE BACTERIA THAN EXPECTED

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The arrivals area at Hobart Airport in Australia.  (Steve Bell/Getty Images)

“Can you spot the imposter?” the airport wrote in a Facebook post Thursday that showed the possum curled up in a cubby with its stuffed counterparts.

“This cheeky lost possum found a clever hiding place among the Aussie plushies in our retail store,” the airport continued. “Luckily it was safely relocated out of the terminal area and the space was cleaned.”

Passengers boarding a plane at Hobart Airport in Australia.  (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

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Bloomfield said the possum not only found a way into the airport but also their hearts.

“We’ll have a little shrine to the possum,” he revealed, according to The Independent. “There will be a nice little photo; once it gets a name, we will put a nice little post in front of the store to make sure it’s remembered.”

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