US-Mexico Reach Immigration Enforcement Deal, No Tariffs on Mexican Goods

The US will no longer impose tariffs on Mexican goods following a deal on immigration enforcement between the two countries.

The US President Donald Trump said tariffs on Mexican goods are "indefinitely suspended". He earlier had threatened to impose 5% import tariffs if Mexico failed to agree to new measures curb migration across the US-Mexico border.

Trump, as of late, has been ‘using tariffs’ as a bargaining mechanism to get countries to give in to his demands. The US has already imposed tariffs on China and has threatened other countries with sanctions if they failed to stop buying Iranian-oil.

“I am pleased to inform you that the United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico,” the president tweeted. “The tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the US on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended. 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.” Trump added that the State Department would release details of the agreement shortly.

Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in a tweet, thanked the people of his country. He said the imposition of tariffs on Mexican products exported to the US has been avoided. Mexico, according to the Guardian, has agreed to immediately expand along the entire border a program that sends migrants seeking asylum in the United States to Mexico while they await adjudication of their cases. Moreover, the joint declaration between the two countries states that Mexico will increase enforcement to contain the flow of migrants headed to the US. The country will be deploying national guard troops to its southern border and cracking down on human smuggling organizations.

However, Mexico’s foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard said the agreement does not include US government’s bid to return asylum seekers from Guatemala to Mexico, and Honduran and Salvadoran asylum seekers to Guatemala. He described the agreement as a ‘fair balance’. Ebrard said the Trump administration had initially had more drastic measures and proposals, but they managed to reach a miidle ground.

USA Today has pointed out that besides the Mexicans, immigrants from the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, including families and small children have attempted to cross into the US via the southern border. According to Border Patrol statistics, agents across the US - Mexican border, since the beginning of fiscal year 2019, have apprehended more than 27,000 people from ‘37 countries’.

Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Raul Ortiz in a statement said they continue to see a rise in the number of immigrants from countries not normally encountered in the area. “Groups of family units fro around the world are travelling thousands of miles just to enter the US illegally to exploit our immigration laws.”