President Donald Trump said tariffs on Mexican goods are
Trump has leaned on tariffs as a favorite bargaining mechanism, including in his ongoing dispute with China, with mixed results, and his Mexico threats drew open opposition from top Republican senators as well as blowback from the business community.
His decision to back off three days of intense discussions in Washington between Mexican officials and the Trump administration, with talks between Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard and State Department officials lasting for more than 11 hours Friday.
Trump had threatened to impose tariffs on all Mexican goods entering the US if Mexico did not limit the number of Central American migrants moving through the country to the US. He said late Friday, after he had returned to the White House from his visit to Europe for D-Day commemorations, that the Mexican officials had agreed to his demands.
« Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measures to stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our Southern Border, » Trump tweeted. « This is being done to greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States. Details of the agreement will be released shortly by the State Department. Thank you! »
Trump’s assertion was met with derision from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has crossed swords with the President repeatedly over immigration — particularly over Trump’s demands for money to build a border wall, which triggered a record-long government shutdown last fall.
Late Friday, the New York Democrat tweeted: « This is an historic night! @realDonaldTrump has announced that he has cut a deal to ‘greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States.’ Now that problem is solved, I’m sure we won’t be hearing any more about it in the future. »
A declaration amid a crisis
The United States and Mexico signed onto a joint declaration as a result of the negotiations. The State Department said in a statement that as part of the agreement, Mexico will take « unprecedented steps » to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration, including the deployment of its National Guard throughout the country — giving priority to Mexico’s southern border.
The countries also agreed that individuals caught crossing into the US from Mexico seeking asylum will be « rapidly returned » to Mexico where they will await consideration of their asylum claims. Mexico, the declaration says, will authorize the entrance of all of those individuals. Mexico says it will offer jobs, health care and education to those people. In return, the US must expedite the asylum adjudication process.
The declaration also reiterates the countries’ commitment from last year, which emphasizes US support for development in Central America and southern Mexico.
However, the agreement does not include requiring asylum seekers to first apply for asylum in the US while in Mexico.
While the US got what it wanted from Mexico in terms of border enforcement and breaking up trafficking networks, the US did not get Mexico to agree to have asylum seekers from Central America face asylum proceedings in Mexico or the first country they cross through, rather than in the US.
