West Palm Beach, Fla. — President-elect Donald Trump declared a win on stopping illegal immigration through Mexico on Wednesday after talking with that country’s leader. But Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum suggested Mexico was already doing its part and had no interest in closing its borders.

The two spoke just days after Trump threatened to impose sweeping new tariffs on Canada and Mexico as part of his effort to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs — a threat that drew a prompt and terse response from Sheinbaum, who said any U.S. tariffs would be met with reciprocal measures from her government — stressing: “There is no subordination here.”

Trump said in his social media posts that Sheinbaum had “agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”

Sheinbaum indicated on social media, however, that she’d “explained” to Trump that Mexico is already “taking care of” migrant caravans, calling it an “excellent conversation,” but indicating no major changes in her government’s policies.

“I explained to him the comprehensive strategy that Mexico has followed to address the migration phenomenon, respecting human rights. Thanks to this, migrants and caravans are assisted before they reach the border,” the Mexican leader wrote. “We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples.”

Trump’s social media posts about the borders — describing what he called “a wonderful conversation with Sheinbaum and suggesting Mexico had made concessions in the wake of his tariff threat — did move financial markets.

Even if the proposed tariffs fail to materialize, Trump may argue to his supporters that the mere possibility of them is an effective policy tool, and continue to rely on tariff threats.

But the only new policy clearly referenced by either leader in their social media posts Wednesday was a vow by Trump to launch a new national ad campaign warning against the dangers of fentanyl use.

Sheinbaum had said in her message that she and Trump, “also talked about reinforcing cooperation on security issues, within the framework of our sovereignty, and the campaign we are carrying out to prevent fentanyl consumption.”

In his third, rapid-fire post on his own Truth Social platform about their conversation, the president-elect said he would be “working on a large scale United States Advertising Campaign, explaining how bad Fentanyl is for people to use — Millions of lives being so needlessly destroyed. By the time the Campaign is over, everyone will know how really bad the horror of this Drug is.”

Illegal migration across the Mexico border is down in part because the Biden administration secured some stepped-up cooperation from Mexico — the sort Trump seems to be celebrating.

Arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped 40% from an all-time high last December. U.S. officials mostly credit Mexican vigilance around rail yards and highway checkpoints.

Driven by mounting pressure from the U.S. to block migrants going north, in the past few years Mexican authorities have turned to sending them to southern Mexico, in a strategy seen by experts as an attempt to wear migrants out until they give up.

Neither side clarified any firm plans to impose new tariffs in their social media messages on Wednesdday. But their implementation could fuel higher prices for American consumers and slow economic growth, potentially blowing up the trade agreement among the U.S., Canada and Mexico that was finalized in 2020 during Trump’s previous time in the White House.

Trump on Monday said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders upon taking office on Jan. 20. He also proposed an additional 10% tariff on China tied to its exporting of materials used in the production of fentanyl.

Through September, the United States has imported $378.9 billion in goods from Mexico, $322.2 billion from China and $309.3 billion from Canada.

Kyiv — Russia launched a massive attack Thursday on Ukraine’s energy sector, forcing emergency power outages as temperatures dropped to freezing across the country. Ukraine’s energy grid has been heavily targeted since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of “terror” tactics by trying to plunge Ukrainian cities into darkness and cut off heating to civilians throughout the winter.

The overnight strikes come after two weeks of dramatic escalation that has seen both sides launch new weapons to gain an upper hand ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.

Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko said power infrastructure was “under massive enemy attack” after a countrywide air alert was issued for incoming missiles.

The air force reported a string of Russian cruise missiles and attack drones heading for cities across the country, including the capital Kyiv, Kharkiv in the northeast and the Black Sea port city of Odesa.

Ukraine’s “energy sector is under massive enemy attack”

“Once again, the energy sector is under massive enemy attack. Attacks on energy facilities are taking place across Ukraine,” Galushchenko said.

National power grid operator Ukrenergo “urgently introduced emergency power cuts,” he added, as temperatures dropped to around 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Energy provider DTEK said Ukrenergo was introducing emergency power outages in the regions of Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Donetsk.

Officials warned residents in many cities to remain in shelters, with the air alert still in place.

“As soon as the security situation will allow it, the consequences (of the strikes) will be specified,” Galushchenko said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff said the wave of attacks showed Russia was “continuing their tactics of terror.”

“They stockpiled missiles for attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, for warfare against civilians during… winter,” Andriy Yermak said in a post on Telegram, pledging that Ukraine would respond.

A senior United Nations official, Rosemary DiCarlo, this month warned Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure could make this winter the “harshest since the start of the war.”

Russia-Ukraine war escalates with new weapons

Russia earlier this week said it was preparing its own retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on its territory using U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles.

Ukraine has launched at least three attacks on Russian territory with the long-range missiles since the White House gave it permission to fire them deeper into Russia.

Moscow responded to the first strike by firing a never-before-seen ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. In an angry address to the nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the nuclear-capable, intermediate-range, multiple-warhead missile could be used against Western countries if they let their arms be used by Ukraine to hit Russia.

Russia’s defense ministry said Thursday it had downed 25 Ukrainian drones fired overnight, including 14 over the southern Krasnodar territory — just to the east of the annexed Crimean peninsula.

Krasnodar’s governor said a woman was wounded by falling debris in the town of Slavyansk-on-Kuban, around 60 miles east of the Kerch bridge — the giant infrastructure project linking Crimea to Russia that Kyiv has heavily targeted throughout the war.

Trump taps retired general to lead on Ukraine, Russia policy

The latest missile salvo came a day after Trump named staunch loyalist and retired general Keith Kellogg as his Ukraine envoy, charged with ending the Russian invasion.

Trump campaigned on a platform of securing a swift end to the Ukraine war, boasting that he would quickly mediate a ceasefire deal — comments that have triggered concern in Kyiv that the U.S. will push it to cede land occupied by Russian forces.

Kellog, an 80-year-old national security veteran, co-authored a paper this year calling for Washington to leverage military aid as a means of pushing for peace talks.

The outgoing Biden administration has urged Ukraine to drop the minimum age of conscription to 18 to plug severe manpower shortages across the 600-mile front line.

Russian troops have been advancing in the east for months, where they have a manpower and ammunition advantage over Ukraine’s stretched forces.