Despite pushback from U.S. business, Mexico and Capitol Hill, U.S. President Donald Trump is doubling down on his threat to slap a 5 per cent tariff on Mexican imports unless America’s southern neighbor cracks down on Central American migrants trying to cross the U.S. border.U.S. manufacturers said the tariff, set to take effect June 10, would have devastating consequences on them and American consumers. U.S. stocks tumbled on Wall Street in response to Trump’s planned action.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador dispatched his foreign secretary to Washington to try to negotiate a solution. He said social problems are not solved with coercive measures, but also seemed convinced that Trump just needed to be informed about all the steps Mexico has taken to slow illegal migration.
1,000 illegals a day is 3.65 million per year.
Mexico has stepped up raids on migrant caravans traveling through the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca this year. It has deported thousands of migrants and frustrated thousands more who wait endlessly for permits that would allow them to travel legally through Mexico.
Trump's decision showed the administration going to new lengths, and looking for new levers, to pressure Mexico to take action ‐ even if those risk upending other policy priorities, like the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal that is the cornerstone of Trump's legislative agenda and seen as beneficial to his reelection effort.Keeping the economy rolling also is critical to Trump's reelection, and business was not happy with the president's planned tariff on Mexican imports.
Lots more hand-wringing at the link.