The US and Mexico reached an agreement on Friday to avert a tariff war, with Mexico agreeing to rapidly expand a controversial asylum programme and deploy security forces to stem the flow of illegal Central American migrants, Reuters has reported.
US President Donald Trump had threatened to impose 5 per cent import tariffs on all Mexican goods starting Monday if Mexico did not commit to do more to tighten its borders. In a joint declaration after three days of talks in Washington, both countries said Mexico agreed to immediately expand along the entire border a programme that sends migrants seeking asylum in the US to Mexico while they await adjudication of their cases.
Trump said Mexico had agreed to take strong measures to “reduce, or eliminate” illegal immigration from Mexico. However, the deal appeared to fall short of a key US demand that Mexico accepts a “safe third country” designation that would have forced it to permanently take in most Central American asylum seekers. “The tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the US on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended,” Trump said in a tweet on Friday evening.