According to a post by President Trump via his Twitter account Friday, the U.S. has reached an agreement with Mexico that includes plans to return migrants seeking asylum to Mexico, where they will remain until their claims can be processed by the U.S.
“I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico. The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended,” said the President. “Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measures to…. stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our Southern Border. 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!”
The announcement from President Trump came as a surprise, as he took a tough stance towards Mexico earlier that day. Posts on his social media account stated his intentions to put pressure on the country. He Tweeted, “If we are unable to make the deal, Mexico will begin paying Tariffs at the 5% level on Monday!”
Instead, Mexico avoided these tariffs that were to be imposed on all farm and agricultural products by agreeing to deploy its National Guard throughout Mexico, especially at the U.S. border. These efforts were meant to assist in dismantling human trafficking operations and the smuggling of people across the border. It also ensures the extra steps needed to coordinate with the U.S. government to communicate and share information to “better protect and secure our common border,” according to the State Department.
President Trump pushed forward with his intentions to play tough against Mexico, even though members within his party advised against imposing tariffs on the country. The president was proposing a 5 percent tariff on Mexican goods now, which would increase up to 25 percent every month. This could have potentially harmed American consumers as well as manufacturers who purchased almost $380 billion worth of Mexican imports in 2018. There was fear of ruining the economies of both countries as well as jeopardizing the possibility of a trade deal with Mexico and Canada.
As usual, Democrats were fast to criticize Trump’s efforts, including Beto O’Rourke, 2020 presidential candidate, who posted this on his social media account: “The damage of Trump’s reckless trade policies and tariffs has already been done. What we see is yet another example of him trying to be both the arsonist who created this problem in the first place and the firefighter who wants credit for addressing it.”
Republicans, however, supported the agreement and Trump’s efforts. Republican leader Kevin Brady of the House Ways and Means Committee and was quick to congratulate the president on the agreement, saying that it was a “strong win for Texas and America.”
~ United American News
