Mexico’s President Comments On Remittance Tax

By
Billy Costigan
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Tensions between Washington and Mexico City have reignited—this time not over border walls or trade disputes, but over dollars sent home.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has launched a forceful condemnation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”, which proposes a 3.5% federal tax on remittances sent by immigrants to their home countries. What began as a policy maneuver to curb undocumented immigration and raise funds has now escalated into a full-blown diplomatic standoff.


Though Trump’s original proposal in his first term envisioned a 15% levy, the updated version—now at 3.5%—still packs a political and economic punch. The bill’s supporters argue it will reduce illicit immigration incentives and generate billions in federal revenue. But for Sheinbaum, it’s an attack on hardworking Mexican immigrants and a direct hit to families across the border who depend on those funds to survive.

“Mexican citizens in America work hard to pay their bills,” Sheinbaum said. “We don’t want this tax to affect the remittances of our countrymen, who tend to the needy.”


The President has urged Mexicans both in the U.S. and abroad to contact the U.S. Senate in opposition. Sheinbaum’s government is also pushing a legislative counter-offensive with a program dubbed “Finabien,” aimed at lowering remittance transaction fees to blunt the bill’s impact and promote financial resilience.

But the rhetoric hasn’t cooled. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) escalated the issue dramatically, calling Mexico’s backlash a threat and vowing to quadruple the tax to 15%.


“America is not the world’s piggy bank,” Schmitt posted. “We don’t take kindly to threats.”

Schmitt’s push represents the hardline faction in the Senate—those who view remittances as an untapped revenue stream and leverage point against nations they see as complicit in illegal migration.


As formal diplomacy frays, cryptocurrency is quietly gaining momentum as a workaround. Financial analysts have pointed out that decentralized assets like Bitcoin and stablecoins offer a path for Mexican immigrants to bypass traditional remittance channels—and with them, the proposed federal tax.

With unhosted crypto wallets difficult to track and regulate, this digital backdoor may become a lifeline. If implemented, the tax may not only fail to raise expected revenue, but could accelerate the adoption of crypto-financial solutions that sidestep the U.S. banking system entirely.

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