The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | February 4th, 2025: Mexico's Cartel Crackdown & China's Retaliatory Tariffs

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:   First, we’ll begin in Mexico, where authorities are beginning to crack down on the country’s violent drug cartels following President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Then, after President Trump imposed a 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports, China announced sweeping retaliatory tariffs of their own targeting key American industries, sparking fears of a new trade war. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First, we'll begin in Mexico, where authorities are beginning to crack down on the country's violent drug cartels following President Trump's pressure campaign on Mexican President Claudia Shinebaum. Then, after President Trump imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese imports, Xi Jinping's government has announced sweeping retaliatory tariffs of their own, targeting key American industries and sparking fears of a new trade war. But first, our afternoon spotlight. It looks like we might be seeing the first signs of a cartel crackdown by Mexican authorities, at least near the U.S. southern border.

Late Monday, Mexican law enforcement announced the arrest of cartel leader, Ricardo Gonzalez Socerra, better known as El Ricky or Amando R. He was taken into custody at Nuevo Laredo, a key cartel stronghold, sitting right across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas. Now El Ricky, just 27 years old, was the leader of Cartel del Noreste, one of the most violent and aggressive Mexican drug cartels. If you're not familiar with them, CDN, as they're known, is an offshoot of the once dominant Los Zetas cartel. Now, the Zetas were notorious for their paramilitary-style operations and extreme brutality, and CDN, well, they've carried on that legacy. This group doesn't just control drug routes. They fight for them, often engaging in open battles with Mexican security forces and rival cartels.

Their methods, well, they include mass executions, beheadings, and direct attacks on law enforcement. CDN is one of the main cartels, currently running smuggling operations, into the United States, moving fentanyl, weapons, and people across the border. Their operations don't just stay in Mexico. CDN's influence extends deep into Texas, contributing to the fentanyl crisis and increasing cartel-related violence in U.S. border cities. El Ricky had two outstanding arrest warrants for attempted homicide, and he's also linked to extortion, murder, and attacks on Mexican federal forces. And his arrest? Well, it didn't.

go over quietly. Within hours of his capture, Nuevo Laredo erupted in violence. Reports came in of gunfights throughout the city, cartel gunmen blocking highways and vehicles set on fire to disrupt security forces. The U.S. consulate and Nuevo Laredo quickly issued a security alert, warning all American personnel to shelter in place as the violence escalated. Now, obviously, the timing of this arrest, well, it's not random. It happened to just hours after President Trump put heavy pressure on Mexico's new president, demanding she take stronger action against the cartels. As we reported yesterday, Shinebaugh, the president, agreed to deploy 10,000 Mexican soldiers to the border, a move that came less than 48 hours after Trump imposed

tariffs on Mexico. Trump has agreed to delay the imposition of those tariffs for at least a month. So, the question now is, is this the beginning of a real crackdown on cartel operations, or is it just Kabuki Theater, a political maneuver to satisfy Washington? Mexican authorities have made high-profile arrests before, only to see those cartels bounce back even stronger. As a matter of fact, a previous leader of the CDN, a man known as Bola Trevino, was arrested just last September. Whether this signals a shift in policy or just a temporary show of force, well, that remains to be seen. Coming up, after President Trump's 10% tariffs on Chinese imports took effect Monday, China announced sweeping retaliatory tariffs

of their own, sparking fears of a new trade war. I'll be right back with those details. This episode is brought to you by Redfin. You're listening to a podcast, which means you're probably multitasking, maybe even scrolling home listings on Redfin, saving homes without expecting to get them. But Redfin isn't just built for endless browsing. It's built to help you find and own a home. With agents who close twice as many deals, when you find the one, you've got a real shot at getting it.

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Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. Welcome back to the afternoon book. While Canada and Mexico may have reached temporary agreements to pause or postpone Trump administration tariffs, well, it appears that China is gearing up for a fight. After President Trump imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese imports on Monday, leaders in Beijing announced a large package of retaliatory economic measures targeting the U.S. Specifically, China's Ministry of Finance said they'll levy a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas products, as well as a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery, large engine cars, and pickup trucks set to take effect on 10 February.

That's according to a report from Fox Business. Separately, China's Ministry of Commerce and Customs Administration announced new export restrictions on more than two dozen metal products and related technologies, including minerals, critical for defense technologies and solar cells. Now, given the CCP, the Chinese Communist Party's near global monopoly, on the refining of critical minerals, the U.S. should probably be paying attention at this point. Additionally, China also launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Google

that threatens to disrupt its dealings with Chinese companies, but it's worth noting that Google does have minimal operations in China, where their flagship search engine is not available. Taken together, China's retaliatory measures represent the most significant response by a country yet to Trump's aggressive use of tariffs as a negotiating tactic. In a statement, officials with the CCP chastised the U.S. over the 10% tariff and said they'd filed a complaint with a World Trade Organization. The officials said, quote, the U.S. practice seriously undermines the rules-based multilateral trading system undermines a foundation of economic and trade cooperation between China and the U.S.

and disrupts the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain. Still, analysts said China's response is far from extreme. It touches only $20 billion of the country's annual imports from the U.S. or about 12% of total imports compared with Trump's tariffs, which impacts some $450 billion in Chinese goods. The export restrictions on minerals also reportedly only impacts a small portion of overall bilateral trade. The head of the financial firm China economics told Reuters, quote, the measures are fairly modest, at least relative to U.S. moves, and have clearly been calibrated to try to send a message to the U.S. without inflicting too much damage, end quote.

While President Trump has not officially responded to the Chinese tariffs, his trade advisor, Peter Navarro, downplayed concerns and said the president would be speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping sometime on Tuesday. Given the breakthroughs that Trump had during phone calls on Monday with Mexican President Shinebaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, hopes are high that he and President Xi can come to some kind of understanding, although dealing with the Chinese regime is an entirely different proposition from dealing with the Mexican and Canadian governments. And for that, today's winner of the PDB statement of the obvious award goes to, oh, look, me. Still, Trump warned Monday that he could increase the new tariffs if China

does not take comprehensive action to block the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. Trump warned, quote, China hopefully is going to stop sending us fentanyl, and if they're not, well, the tariffs are going to go substantially higher, end quote. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Tuesday 4 February. Now, no pressure, but you've got a week and a half until Valentine's Day. And if you're wondering what to get that special gal or fella in your life for Valentine's Day, may we suggest a premium membership to the president's daily brief. It's both romantic and informative. Just visit at pdbpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow.

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