Mexico’s president says her country could retaliate with its own tariffs if Donald Trump imposes 25 per cent import duties on Mexican goods when he returns to the White House.

The US president-elect said on his first day in office he would slap tariffs on products from Mexico, Canada (25 per cent) and China (an extra 10 per cent).

The pledge sparked fears of a global trade war and roiled global markets.

President Claudia Sheinbaum hinted that Mexico could hit back with tariffs of its own.

“One tariff would be followed by another in response, and so on until we put at risk common businesses,” Sheinbaum said, referring to US carmakers with plants in both countries.

China responded to Trump’s announcement by saying there were no winners in trade wars.

“No one will win a trade war or a tariff war. Nor will the world benefit from it,” Chinese Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said on social media platform X.

Liu added that China “stands ready to work with all parties to uphold true multilateralism, build an open world economy, support sustainable development, and brings countries together to address challenges, achieve common prosperity and build a community with a shared future for mankind”.

Canada stressed its importance to the US.

“Canada and the United States have one of the strongest and closest relationships-particularly when it comes to trade and border security,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a joint statement.

“Canada places the highest priority on border security and the integrity of our shared border.”

Trump said the tariffs would remain until Mexico and Canada clamped down on drugs, particularly fentanyl, and migrants crossing the border illegally.

On China, the US president-elect accused Beijing of not doing enough to stop the flow of illicit drugs crossing the border into the US from Mexico.

“Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10 per cent Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America,” Trump said.

Sheinbaum said Mexico had done a lot to stem the flow of migrants, noting “caravans of migrants no longer reach the border”.

However, Mexico’s efforts to fight drugs such as the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl – which is manufactured by Mexican cartels using chemicals imported from China – have weakened in the past year.

Sheinbaum said Mexico suffered from an influx of weapons smuggled in from the US, and said the flow of drugs was “a problem of public health and consumption in your country’s society.”

Sheinbaum also criticised US spending on weapons, saying the money should instead be spent regionally to address the problem of migration.

“If a percentage of what the United States spends on war were dedicated to peace and development, that would address the underlying causes of migration,” she said.

Sheinbaum’s bristly response suggests that Trump faces a much different Mexican president than he did in his first term.

Trump has previously pledged to end China’s most-favoured-nation trading status and slap tariffs on Chinese imports in excess of 60 per cent – much higher than those imposed during his first term.

The Chinese economy is in a much more vulnerable position given the country’s prolonged property downturn, debt risks and weak domestic demand.

-with DPA