No, Mexico did not pledge to stop migrant caravans after Trump tariff threat | Fact check

The claim: Mexican president vowed to stop migrant caravans to US after Trump tariff threat

A Nov. 28 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) includes a video of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum speaking in Spanish at a news conference.

“Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican President, has just announced that migrant caravans will no longer be reaching the US border,” reads part of the post, which is a recording of a post first shared on X. “Isn't it strange how fast our problems are resolved when these other countries fear some kind of consequence. TRUMP said he would TARIFF Mexico. That's all it took."

The post was liked nearly 300 times in a week. The original X post was re-posted more than 100 times.

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Our rating: False

Mexico has not made any changes to immigration policy in response to the tariff threat from President-elect Donald Trump. The video comes from a news conference in which Sheinbaum outlined steps taken since December 2023 that had already slashed the flow of migrants to the U.S., and she emphasized they had nothing to do with Trump's election or tariff threat.

Letter lists steps already taken to reduce arrivals

Trump announced on Nov. 25 a plan to institute a 25% tariff on all goods imported to the U.S. from Mexico and Canada, calling it punishment for illegal immigration and the flow of drugs into the U.S. Mexican officials immediately criticized the proposal, and Trump and Sheinbaum gave differing accounts on whether Mexico had agreed to take new steps to completely stop the flow of migrants to the countries’ shared border.

Regardless of whose version of the private conversation is correct, the video in the social media post does not show Sheinbaum pledging to stop migrant caravans due to the threat of tariffs. It comes from a Nov. 26 news conference where she points out that the caravans had already stopped, due to actions Mexico undertook well before ? and completely unrelated to ? the tariff threat.

"You are probably not aware that Mexico has developed a comprehensive policy to assist migrants from different parts of the world who cross our territory and are destined for the southern border of the United States of America," the letter says in Spanish, according to a transcript of Sheinbaum's news conference in which she read the letter. "As a result, and according to figures from your country's Border and Customs Patrol (CBP), encounters at the border between Mexico and the United States have been reduced by 75% from December 2023 to November 2024. ... For these reasons, caravans of migrants no longer arrive at the border."

Sheinbaum also noted that half of those who did arrive were legally granted appointments scheduled with the U.S.’s CBP One app.

There is no credible news reporting about Mexico doing anything new to close its borders to stop illegal migration to the U.S. in response to the tariff threat.

The clip in the Instagram post also came from the news conference, and the English-language post misrepresents the contents of Sheinbaum's remarks. While the text of the post suggests she was capitulating in the video on immigration policy because of the tariff threat, her full comments in the transcript and video of the news conference show nothing of the sort.

Instead, the video clip ? which picks up and ends in mid-sentence ? includes a portion where she talks about the harm tariffs can do to American companies operating in Mexico and the possibility U.S. tariffs could be met by Mexican tariffs.

“What we want to say in the letter is that raising tariffs – and we will show this in greater detail tomorrow – on Mexico, which would also mean being able to raise tariffs on this side, will ultimately lead to harming companies that work in Mexico and the United States, and which are American companies that have been in Mexico for decades, not even because of the Free Trade Agreement,” she says in Spanish.

It was not clear if she was referring to the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement negotiated during Trump’s first term or a previous agreement.

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The letter also pointed fingers at the U.S. for its role in fostering violence and drug production in Mexico. Sheinbaum noted that 70% of weapons seized from criminals in Mexico were illegally imported from the U.S., and Mexicans are being killed and injured as gangs try to meet the demand to produce more drugs for the U.S.

"President Trump, we are not going to address the migration phenomenon or drug consumption in the United States with threats or tariffs,” she wrote in the letter in Spanish. “These great challenges will require cooperation and mutual understanding.”

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the claim for comment but did not immediately receive a response. The X user could not be reached for comment.

Snopes also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources

• President of the Republic of Mexico, Nov. 26, Versión estenográfica. Conferencia de prensa de la presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo del 26 de noviembre de 2024

• President of the Republic of Mexico, Nov. 26, No es con amenazas ni con aranceles como se va a atender el fenómeno migratorio ni el consumo de drogas en EUA: Presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum

• La 4TV (YouTube), Nov. 26, La presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum a Trump: Subir aranceles a México da?ará empresasde EU

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sheinbaum suggests Mexico could match Trump tariffs | Fact check