The apprehension of overwhelming numbers of illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has forced President Donald Trump to threaten tariffs on the southern neighbor.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reported stopping more than 90,000 illegals in March and nearly 100,000 in April. Hidden in the ranks of migrant caravans are murderers, rapists, child molesters and MS-13 gang members trying to join affiliates who have already penetrated America’s borders. President Trump has repeatedly negotiated with Mexico to stem the flow of migrants at its southern border. Instead, Mexican officials have been complicit in allowing a record number of Central Americans to overrun border agents.
“The problem is that Mexico is an ‘abuser’ of the United States, taking but never giving. It has been this way for decades. Either they stop the invasion of our Country by Drug Dealers, Cartels, Human Traffickers, Coyotes and Illegal Immigrants, which they can do very easily, or our many companies and jobs that have been foolishly allowed to move South of the Border, will be brought back into the United States through taxation (Tariffs),” Trump tweeted. “America has had enough!”
Mexico worked through tough negotiations to hash out a NAFTA replacement known as the USMCA deal with the U.S. and Canada, but has given only lip service to resolving the flow of illegal immigration. The Trump Administration recently announced tariffs would begin at 5 percent and escalate until Mexico took proactive measures to curb illegal migration across its lands.
“The reason we’re doing things people don’t expect is that we’re facing things at the border we never experienced before,” acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said. “We’re using extraordinary tools because there is extraordinary circumstances that dictate those.”
The tariffs on imports hit June 10, and could reach 25 percent by October. That reality has prompted Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to open talks to resolve the long-standing crisis. The Mexican populist recently said his delegation to Washington, D.C., expects to earn “good results” and avoid tariffs.
“The main thing is to inform about what we’re already doing on the migration issue, and if it’s necessary to reinforce these measures without violating human rights, we could be prepared to reach that deal,” Lopez Obrador said. “I’m optimistic…that there will be a deal before June 10.”
The White House, however, is not as “optimistic” that a deal can be reached. Chief of Staff Mulvaney recently went on the record stating that he expects the June tariffs to go into effect. The Trump Administration is calling on America’s southern neighbor to secure its 700-mile border with Belize and Guatemala to nip illegal immigration in the bud. The Trump Administration views this as a more pragmatic solution than acting at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“That border along southern Mexico needs to be secured,” Mulvaney said. “It is much easier to secure that border than it is our border because it is so much shorter. It is about a quarter of the length.”
The Trump Administration has used tariffs as a critical leverage tool when renegotiating NAFTA, and brought China to the table over trade imbalances. The results have been almost universally positive despite the attacks by the biased and fake news media.
American unemployment stands at approximately 50-year lows, with African-American and Latin-American unemployment at the lowest in the nation’s history. America First policies have rebooted the country’s manufacturing sector as well as mining and other industries. Retail giants such as Target and Amazon have lifted entry-level wages to $15 per hour in an effort to compete for workers. Freight outfits are offering incentives to attract qualified long-haul truck drivers, and experts say there are more available jobs than workers to fill them.
Mexican officials had done little to stop illegal immigrants from trekking across their country toward the U.S. World leaders now understand that President Trump and his administration advisors are highly skilled at using economic strategies to promote American interests at home and abroad. Mexico’s president appears willing to end the illegal immigration crisis only because the tariffs would force manufacturers to relocate back to the United States.
~ Liberty Planet
