Washington, Apr 4 (EFE).- A day after threatening to close the US border with Mexico to stop undocumented immigrants, President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would give the Aztec nation a year to halt the flow of migrants and drugs before imposing tariffs on Mexican imports as a first step toward a possible border closure.
“We’re going to give them a one-year warning, and if the drugs don’t stop or largely stop, we’re going to put tariffs on Mexico and products, particularly cars. And if that doesn’t stop the drugs, we close the border,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
The president said last Friday that Mexico had seven days to show improvement in controlling migration and smuggling.
On Thursday, Trump said that Mexican authorities have demonstrated an advance by “capturing people and bringing them back to their countries at their southern border.”
Net immigration of Mexicans to the US fell to zero several years ago. Today’s northbound migrants come overwhelmingly from the Central American nations of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
“A lot of good things are happening with Mexico. Mexico understands that we’re going to close the border or I’m going to tariff the cars. One or the other, probably start off with the tariffs,” the US leader said.
The threatened auto tariffs would be prohibited under the new US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on trade, which is pending ratification by the respective legislatures.
“If the drugs don’t stop – Mexico can stop them if they want – we’re going to tariff the cars,” Trump said. “And if that doesn’t work, we’re going to close the border.”
The president, who is scheduled Friday to visit Southern California to view work on the wall he wants to build on the US-Mexico border, acknowledged that his threat to levy tariffs on autos ran contrary to the USMCA.
“We have a deal – USMCA – it is all done. They are going to have to live with it, they are going to have to live with it,” he said.
“I’m not trying to be unfair. They are going to have to live with it. The USMCA is a great deal for everybody but this is more important to me than the USMCA so they are going to have to live with it,” the president said.
Trump’s threat to close the border raised concerns even among his fellow Republicans, including both senators representing Texas, who said that a closure would devastate businesses in their state.
Trump da un año a México para controlar la frontera o la cerrará
Washington, 4 abr (EFE).- El presidente, Donald Trump, dio hoy un año a México para detener el flujo de drogas que entran en el país y dijo que si no lo hace, impondrá aranceles a los automóviles y otros bienes y cerrará la zona limítrofe.
“Vamos a darles un plazo de un año, y si las drogas no paran, o paran en su mayoría, vamos a imponer aranceles (…), y si eso no detiene las drogas, vamos a cerrar la frontera”, dijo Trump a los periodistas durante un acto en la Casa Blanca.
