Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum Tuesday floated the possibility of retaliatory tariffs if President-elect Trump follows through on his plan to impose 25 percent tariffs on all Mexican products.

Sheinbaum spoke about Trump’s proposed tariffs at a press conference and said she would send her American counterpart a letter to foster dialogue between the neighboring countries. She also argued Trump’s tariffs would create inflation and job losses, rather than helping curb illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl.

“To one tariff will come another and so on, until we put our common businesses at risk,” Sheinbaum said, referring to the U.S. automakers that do business in Mexico.

Trump revealed his tariff plan on Truth Social Monday night, promising to levy 25 percent tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian goods until they cooperate with the incoming administration’s plan to curtail illegal immigration and cut off the trafficking of fentanyl across the southern border. Trump is similarly vowing to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on all Chinese goods because of China’s apparent lack of cooperation in mitigating the spread of fentanyl.

Roughly 80 percent of Mexico’s exports go to the U.S., making Mexico heavily dependent on the market of its northern neighbor. About 16 percent of American exports flow to Mexico from sectors including electronic components, chemicals, automobile parts, and computer equipment.

Reading off her letter to Trump, Sheinbaum, a recently elected leftist ideologue, asserted that the number of illegal immigrations crossing the southern border plunged over the past year in large part because of Mexican efforts.

“Migrant caravans no longer reach the border,” she said.

The White House oversaw record levels of illegal immigration through the first three years of the Biden presidency, allowing an estimated 11 million people to enter the U.S. illegally. President Biden signed an executive order earlier this year tightening asylum requirements after claiming he could not so after the Senate’s bipartisan border deal collapsed due to conservative scrutiny.

Sheinbaum also urged the U.S. to reduce its defense budget to prioritize what she believes to be the root caused of illegal immigration, echoing the rhetoric of American progressives.

“Allocating even a fraction of what the United States spends on warfare toward peace building and development would address the deeper drivers of migration,” she wrote in the letter to Trump.

Tariffs and illegal immigration have been a central issue for Trump for the better part of a decade and both were significant aspects of his campaign this cycle. Trump resoundingly defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election in part because the electorate preferred him on the economy and border security over his Democratic rival.