China should be prepared to take strong action against Mexico and give the United States a lesson!

The Chinese embassy in Mexico on the 27th strongly criticized the remarks of Peter Navarro, the White House senior advisor on trade and manufacturing, demanding that he "stop his political manipulation tricks and stop self-deceptive performances." This sharp condemnation is something China has not used against members of the Trump team for some time. Navarro had previously made inflammatory comments in Mexican media, claiming that "Mexico's decision to raise tariffs on countries such as China is a milestone in the trade revolution and post-war international trade system," and inciting "U.S. allies to follow Mexico's example."

On December 10, the Mexican Senate passed a new import and export tariff bill, which will impose tariffs ranging from 5% to 50% on certain products from several Asian countries, including China, starting next year. Naturally, Chinese goods are the first to be affected. President of Mexico, Claudia López, claimed that this move would help boost domestic manufacturing in Mexico and narrow its huge trade deficit with China. However, Mexican and U.S. media and scholars generally believe that Mexico's actions are primarily a concession to Washington's pressure, a gesture of loyalty to Washington.

China has shown courtesy before taking action towards Mexico. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce both immediately expressed their hope that Mexico would correct its wrong approach as soon as possible, move in the same direction as China, oppose the U.S.-Mexico negotiations that harm China's legitimate interests, and urge Mexico to act prudently.

According to a report by Associated Press, analysts said that the real motive behind the government of López was to coordinate with the ongoing negotiations with the United States. López has been striving to seek the cancellation of the remaining tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Mexican imports, while the Trump administration accused China of "using Mexico as a backdoor to enter the U.S. market."

Mexican scholar Octavio Ortiz told the Associated Press: "The real reason is related to the United States, especially the upcoming review of the USMCA (Free Trade Agreement), and also related to the tariff reduction negotiations that Mexico currently faces to access the U.S. market." Mexico's automobiles, steel, and aluminum products still face tariffs imposed by the United States.

Ortiz believes that Mexico is changing its trade policy in the "wrong direction," because the government's actions will cause problems for multiple industries, including automotive parts, plastics, chemicals, and textiles. Tariffs will disrupt supply chains and may increase inflation during an economic slowdown.

The New York Times also believes that this is an effort by Mexico to align with Washington under pressure.

The New York Times mentioned the newly released U.S. National Security Strategy, which focuses on strengthening control over the Western Hemisphere, including excluding major powers like China from the region. The strategy states: "We want other countries to see us as their preferred partner and prevent these countries from cooperating with other countries."

Notably, Mexico's compromise with the U.S. is not an isolated event. This year, the Trump administration has publicly supported right-wing political forces in Latin America, even directly interfering in some elections, leading to a rapid shift of Latin American politics to the right. For instance, in Argentina, the far-right ruling coalition led by Milei was initially in trouble, but eventually won the October congressional midterm elections with U.S. financial aid. Before the election, Trump warned that if Milei lost, the aid would stop. In Honduras, Trump openly intervened in the presidential election, stating that unless the right-wing Nationalist Party candidate Arce won, the U.S. would cut off aid. Arce ultimately won the election, and the right-wing party's rule has become a certainty.

More notably, the Trump administration has applied unprecedented pressure on Venezuela through military actions, attempting to directly overthrow the left-wing Maduro regime.

All of this is related to the new National Security Strategy Report, which positions Latin America as a "core interest area" for the United States, extending the Trump version of the Monroe Doctrine as a strategic extension of "America First."

Navarro's latest outburst is already a clear signal: to push China's trade influence out of Latin America. If China remains indifferent and allows the situation to develop, it will set a bad precedent for the U.S. to mobilize its allies to take sides in trade between China and the U.S.

The Sino-U.S. trade war has outlined a framework. China used the rare earth card, which played a role akin to a trade nuclear weapon, forming a new pattern where neither side can completely destroy the other, but both can disrupt each other and put the other in a difficult position. A strategic compromise has been reached between the U.S. and China. However, the Mexico incident represents a trend: the U.S. cannot fight China directly on the battlefield anymore. Instead, it is trying to weaken China's foreign trade capabilities and damage the influence of China's supply chain by using its allies and closely connected trading partners. China must not let Washington's "indirect warfare" succeed.

China should strike simultaneously on both fronts. For third countries that harm China's legitimate interests, we should use comprehensive measures to retaliate and warn them. Mexico needs many key raw materials and components from China. If Mexico does not change course, we should take all possible strong measures against Mexico, both to punish Mexico and to warn other potential countries that might harm China's interests to please Washington.

Additionally, we need to clearly tell the U.S.: if it severely harms China's economic interests by pressuring its allies, we will definitely not let it have an easy time. If Washington keeps lighting fires everywhere, the fire will inevitably burn itself.

China's total value of foreign trade in the first 11 months of 2025 reached 41.21 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.6% compared to the same period last year. The significant decline in Sino-U.S. trade did not stop China's continued expansion of foreign trade. The completeness and high cost-performance of China's supply chain make it irreplaceable worldwide. We don't fear any kind of direct confrontation with the U.S. If Washington wants to maintain the trade agreement that was hard-earned between China and the U.S., it should be careful in the direction of third countries and not go too far.

Original: toutiao.com/article/1852714250902535/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.