Mexico, GOP Establishment Try to Block Tariffs and Immigration Deal

A top official in Mexico’s government is rejecting the White House’s call for a “safe third country” immigration deal, and some GOP leaders are trying to prevent President Donald Trump from getting a deal by imposing tariffs on Mexico.

The ‘safe third country’ agreement would deter migrants from leaving Central American because it would allow U.S. border agencies to quickly reject asylum applications from migrants who cross through Mexico. The quick rejection would prevent the migrants from using Congress’ catch-and-release rules to get the U.S. jobs needed to pay their smuggling debts to the cartel-linked smugglers.

A safe third country deal “would not be acceptable to Mexico,” Mexico’s deputy foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, told a press conference in Washington on Monday, June 3. “It would not be acceptable and [U.S. officials] know it,” he added. Instead, Americans should provide economic aid to the Central American countries whose populations are moving into the United States, he said.

GOP legislators told the Washington Post they are trying to push back against Trump’s promised tariffs on Mexico if Mexico’s government does not curb the migration. The paper reported June 4:

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Congressional Republicans have begun discussing whether they may have to vote to block President Trump’s planned new tariffs on Mexico, potentially igniting a second standoff this year over Trump’s use of executive powers to circumvent Congress, people familiar with the talks said.
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“I think this calls into question our ability to pass the USMCA [trade deal], much less get it passed by Canada and by Mexico,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) told reporters Monday. “And so we need to put our heads together and try to come up with a solution.”

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“We have a lot of members who are very concerned, I think, about where this is headed,” said Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.). Thune added that if the tariff standoff continues, “Congress is going to want to probably be heard from” in terms of trying to limit Trump’s tariff authority.

But Trump used his Tuesday press conference in London to push back against the GOP establishment.

“Oh, I don’t think they will do that, I think if they did it’s foolish,” he said. Trump continued:

Mexico shouldn’t allow millions of people to try and enter our country, and they could stop it very quickly and I think they will. And if they won’t, we’re going to put tariffs on. And every month those tariffs go from 5 percent to 10 percent to 15 percent to 20 and then to 25 percent.

Trump suggested that Mexico will not agree to the deal until they feel the pain from tariffs, saying, “It’s more likely the tariffs go on and we’ll probably be talking during the time the tariffs are on.”