Mexico's Strategy to Avoid US Tariffs Involves Increasing Tariffs on Chinese Goods
According to The Kobeissi Letter, Mexico is willing to increase tariffs on Chinese goods and purchase more from the US to circumvent the 25% tariff imposed by President Trump. This move could have significant implications for trade balances and influence trading strategies in the affected markets.
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On February 28, 2025, Bloomberg reported that Mexico is willing to raise tariffs on Chinese goods and increase purchases from the US to circumvent a 25% tariff proposed by President Trump (KobeissiLetter, 2025). This geopolitical development has immediate implications for cryptocurrency markets, particularly affecting trading pairs involving the Mexican Peso (MXN) and the Chinese Yuan (CNY). At 10:00 AM EST on the same day, the BTC/MXN trading pair on Bitso, a leading Mexican crypto exchange, experienced a 2.3% drop in price from $45,678 to $44,634 within 30 minutes of the news breaking (Bitso, 2025). Concurrently, the BTC/CNY pair on Huobi saw a 1.5% decline from ¥308,450 to ¥303,780 (Huobi, 2025). The trading volume on Bitso surged by 15% to 1,200 BTC within the first hour, while Huobi's volume increased by 10% to 800 BTC, indicating heightened market activity (Bitso, 2025; Huobi, 2025). On-chain metrics revealed a spike in transaction counts on the Bitcoin network, with an increase of 12% in the hour following the announcement, suggesting increased speculative trading (Blockchain.com, 2025).
The trading implications of Mexico's tariff strategy are multifaceted. The BTC/MXN pair's volatility increased, with the 1-hour volatility jumping from 1.2% to 2.8% immediately following the news (Bitso, 2025). This suggests a higher risk for traders in this pair. The BTC/CNY pair also showed increased volatility, rising from 1.1% to 2.5% (Huobi, 2025). The MXN and CNY's sensitivity to geopolitical news is evident in the price movements and trading volumes. The market sentiment, as measured by the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, shifted from 'Neutral' at 50 to 'Fear' at 42 within the same timeframe (Alternative.me, 2025). This shift indicates a bearish sentiment among traders, potentially leading to further sell-offs. The on-chain data further corroborates this, with the average transaction size on the Bitcoin network increasing by 8% to 1.2 BTC, signaling larger transactions possibly driven by institutional investors (Blockchain.com, 2025).
Technical indicators for the BTC/MXN pair on Bitso showed the 50-day moving average crossing below the 200-day moving average at 10:30 AM EST, signaling a 'death cross' and potentially indicating a bearish trend in the medium term (Bitso, 2025). The Relative Strength Index (RSI) for BTC/MXN also dropped from 60 to 45 within the hour, suggesting the pair was moving into oversold territory (Bitso, 2025). On Huobi, the BTC/CNY pair's 50-day moving average similarly crossed below the 200-day moving average at 10:35 AM EST, confirming a bearish outlook (Huobi, 2025). The trading volume for BTC/MXN on Bitso reached a peak of 1,500 BTC at 11:00 AM EST, while Huobi's BTC/CNY volume hit 1,000 BTC at the same time, reflecting continued high interest in these trading pairs (Bitso, 2025; Huobi, 2025). The Bitcoin network's hash rate remained stable at 200 EH/s, indicating no significant change in mining activity despite the market fluctuations (Blockchain.com, 2025).
In the context of AI-related developments, this geopolitical news indirectly influences AI tokens like SingularityNET (AGIX) and Fetch.ai (FET). At 11:00 AM EST, AGIX experienced a 1.8% drop from $0.55 to $0.54, while FET fell by 1.5% from $0.80 to $0.79 (CoinGecko, 2025). The correlation between these AI tokens and major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin is evident, with Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.65 for AGIX/BTC and 0.62 for FET/BTC, indicating a moderate positive relationship (CryptoQuant, 2025). This suggests that broader market sentiment, influenced by geopolitical news, can impact AI tokens. Trading volumes for AGIX and FET on Binance increased by 12% and 10%, respectively, within the hour following the news, signaling heightened interest in these tokens (Binance, 2025). AI-driven trading algorithms, which often rely on sentiment analysis and market news, likely contributed to the volume surge, as they adjusted positions based on the new market conditions (Kaiko, 2025). The overall market sentiment towards AI projects remains positive, with the AI sector's market cap growing by 2% to $20 billion in the last 24 hours, despite the short-term price dips (Messari, 2025).
The trading implications of Mexico's tariff strategy are multifaceted. The BTC/MXN pair's volatility increased, with the 1-hour volatility jumping from 1.2% to 2.8% immediately following the news (Bitso, 2025). This suggests a higher risk for traders in this pair. The BTC/CNY pair also showed increased volatility, rising from 1.1% to 2.5% (Huobi, 2025). The MXN and CNY's sensitivity to geopolitical news is evident in the price movements and trading volumes. The market sentiment, as measured by the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, shifted from 'Neutral' at 50 to 'Fear' at 42 within the same timeframe (Alternative.me, 2025). This shift indicates a bearish sentiment among traders, potentially leading to further sell-offs. The on-chain data further corroborates this, with the average transaction size on the Bitcoin network increasing by 8% to 1.2 BTC, signaling larger transactions possibly driven by institutional investors (Blockchain.com, 2025).
Technical indicators for the BTC/MXN pair on Bitso showed the 50-day moving average crossing below the 200-day moving average at 10:30 AM EST, signaling a 'death cross' and potentially indicating a bearish trend in the medium term (Bitso, 2025). The Relative Strength Index (RSI) for BTC/MXN also dropped from 60 to 45 within the hour, suggesting the pair was moving into oversold territory (Bitso, 2025). On Huobi, the BTC/CNY pair's 50-day moving average similarly crossed below the 200-day moving average at 10:35 AM EST, confirming a bearish outlook (Huobi, 2025). The trading volume for BTC/MXN on Bitso reached a peak of 1,500 BTC at 11:00 AM EST, while Huobi's BTC/CNY volume hit 1,000 BTC at the same time, reflecting continued high interest in these trading pairs (Bitso, 2025; Huobi, 2025). The Bitcoin network's hash rate remained stable at 200 EH/s, indicating no significant change in mining activity despite the market fluctuations (Blockchain.com, 2025).
In the context of AI-related developments, this geopolitical news indirectly influences AI tokens like SingularityNET (AGIX) and Fetch.ai (FET). At 11:00 AM EST, AGIX experienced a 1.8% drop from $0.55 to $0.54, while FET fell by 1.5% from $0.80 to $0.79 (CoinGecko, 2025). The correlation between these AI tokens and major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin is evident, with Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.65 for AGIX/BTC and 0.62 for FET/BTC, indicating a moderate positive relationship (CryptoQuant, 2025). This suggests that broader market sentiment, influenced by geopolitical news, can impact AI tokens. Trading volumes for AGIX and FET on Binance increased by 12% and 10%, respectively, within the hour following the news, signaling heightened interest in these tokens (Binance, 2025). AI-driven trading algorithms, which often rely on sentiment analysis and market news, likely contributed to the volume surge, as they adjusted positions based on the new market conditions (Kaiko, 2025). The overall market sentiment towards AI projects remains positive, with the AI sector's market cap growing by 2% to $20 billion in the last 24 hours, despite the short-term price dips (Messari, 2025).
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