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Agence France-Presse

Huang Chao came to Mexico looking for business, not friends, but the Chinese sales manager says he found unexpected common ground with his prospective clients on one thing: Donald Trump “is crazy”.
Chao, 31, was in Mexico City this week representing his textile company at a trade fair called Expo China HomeLife, whose goal is to connect Chinese suppliers with merchants in different countries around the world.
Mexico was set to be just another stop for the enormous expo – until the US president threatened last week to impose 5 per cent tariffs on all Mexican imports.
The tariffs are due to start Monday and rise in monthly increments to 25 per cent by October, unless Mexico slows the US-bound flow of undocumented migrants to Trump’s satisfaction.




That effectively made Mexico the second major front after China in Trump’s spiralling trade wars.
It also gave vendors and customers in Mexico City a new topic to discuss in stilted English as they brokered deals for mass quantities of home articles, plastic accessories, cheap decorations, cloth and other myriad products the Asian powerhouse exports to the world.
Trump’s tariffs “aren’t just hurting China, they’re hurting the whole world,” Huang told AFP.
“He is hurting both countries’ feelings,” said businesswoman Louisa Chin, 30, referring to Mexico and China.
“He knows how to rile up his voters,” said Alejandro Becerril, a Mexican builder, after an animated conversation with a group of Chinese business executives.
“He’s trying to get Mexico to toughen up its migration policies – and it’s working.”
Last month Washington raised tariffs on US$200 billion in Chinese goods to 25 per cent. Beijing hit back with retaliatory tariffs of five to 25 per cent on US$60 billion in US goods.

Trump is threatening to expand the tariffs to essentially all Chinese imports, and has also moved to blacklist a Chinese tech giant, Huawei, over national security concerns.
The spat had been beneficial for Mexico, which has replaced China as the top US trading partner so far this year.
Chinese and US officials look for chance to reopen talks
But now Mexico is getting a taste of what Beijing calls Trump’s “economic terrorism” – pushing the US neighbour closer to China.
“In the current global context, there are many things China and Mexico can do together,” Lo Tu, deputy mayor of the Chinese city of Shantou, said in Mexico City.
“Mexico and China are friends and partners. Mexico can be stronger with China, and China can be stronger with Mexico,” Mexico’s Undersecretary for Foreign Trade Luz Maria de la Mora said during a visit to China this week.
This is not the first time Mexico – long used to living in the shadow of its giant northern neighbour – has eyed closer ties with China when its trade relationship with the US frays.

There was a similar effect when Trump threatened to rescind the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) between the US, Mexico and Canada.
Mexico sends nearly 80 per cent of its exports to the US, and the countries do more than US$600 billion a year in bilateral trade, according to Washington.
The world’s second-largest economy is an obvious place for Mexico to turn to try to diversify its trade portfolio.
In 2017, Mexico and China did US$80.9 billion in two-way trade, according to Mexico’s central bank. But the bulk of it was Chinese exports to Mexico: US$74.1 billion.
Mexican officials will have to do more to cultivate ties with Beijing if they truly want to deepen the relationship, said China expert Enrique Dussel of Mexico’s largest university, UNAM.
What America’s global auto tariffs would mean for the world economy
“Mexican officials always seem to be saying, ‘China will help us out of the ditch,’” said Dussel.
“But we have to be more serious about the relationship,” he added.
“Whenever Trump sticks his tongue out at us on Monday, we turn to China on Tuesday. Then Trump lifts the tariffs on Wednesday, and on Thursday we forget about China. That’s not how you manage a relationship with a country” like China, he said.
Still, ties are growing. A record 1,600 companies attended the trade fair this year – up 500 from last year.


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Mexico

The enemy of my enemy: Chinese vendors and Mexican clients find unexpected common ground at trade expo as nations face US tariffs

People attend the China Homelife Mexico fair in Mexico City. Photo: AFP

General view of the China Homelife Mexico fair in Mexico City taken on June 4, 2019. - The exhibit runs until June 6. (Photo by Pedro PARDO / AFP)

A woman arrives at the China Homelife Mexico fair in Mexico City on June 4, 2019. - The exhibit runs until June 6. (Photo by Pedro PARDO / AFP)

‘Not nearly enough’ progress on Mexico talks, Donald Trump says, with negotiations to resume on Thursday

US President Donald Trump speaks at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington in October. Photo: AFP

Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs, gestures while speaking at the Embassy of Mexico, Wednesday June 5, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Donald Trump’s Mexico tariff vow roils markets, carmakers as Mexican leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador calls for dialogue

US President Donald Trump listens to a question from the media on the South Lawn of the White House on May 14. Photo: AP

A currency board of a bank shows the US dollar exchange rate in Mexico City on May 31, 2019. - President Donald Trump has trumpeted the robust US economy, but hitting all products from Mexico with 25 percent tariffs threatens to undercut growth and undermine key American industries, economists warn. Trump announced the tariffs on Thursday night, which would start at five percent on June 10 and rapidly increase to pressure the Mexican government to clamp down on the flow of migrants from Central America to the southern US border. (Photo by Pedro PARDO / AFP)

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during his daily morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City on March 26, 2019. - The 500-year-old wounds of the Spanish conquest have been ripped open afresh with Mexico's president urging Spain and the Vatican to apologise for their "abuses" -- a request Madrid said it "firmly rejects". A folksy populist, he pulls no punches in going after elites and has sought to cast himself as a champion of indigenous peoples. (Photo by Pedro PARDO / AFP)

FILE- In this April 9, 2019, file photo, trucks wait to cross the border with the U.S. in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. In a surprise announcement that could compromise a major trade deal, President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he is slapping a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports to pressure the country to do more to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants trying to cross the U.S. border. (AP Photo/Christian Torres, File)

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Mexico is now getting a taste of what Beijing calls Trump’s ‘economic terrorism’ – pushing the US neighbour closer to China


Mexico is now getting a taste of what Beijing calls Trump’s ‘economic terrorism’ – pushing the US neighbour closer to China.


The enemy of my enemy: Chinese vendors and Mexican clients find unexpected common ground at trade expo as nations face US tariffs

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Mexico is now getting a taste of what Beijing calls Trump’s ‘economic terrorism’ – pushing the US neighbour closer to China

Mexico is now getting a taste of what Beijing calls Trump’s ‘economic terrorism’ – pushing the US neighbour closer to China