Mexico: Confident that the US will negotiate on tariffs
MEXICAN president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Saturday said he thinks US officials are prepared to negotiate on President Donald Trump’s threat to use tariffs as a tool to fight illegal migration across the border.
“There is willingness on the part of US government officials to establish dialogue and reach agreements and compromises,” President Lopez Obrador – better known as Amlo – told a news conference.
He did not say what gave him reason to believe this, though he noted that his government had contacted both US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-inlaw and adviser.
Trump’s surprise announcement on Thursday of new tariffs against a key US trading partner was widely criticised, including by US business groups, border-state politicians and some Republican lawmakers. It sent global markets slumping on Friday.
Trump appeared to have no regrets about the move, tweeting on Saturday: “When you are the ‘Piggy Bank’ Nation that foreign countries have been robbing and deceiving for years, the word TARIFF is a beautiful word indeed!”
“Others must treat the United States fairly and with respect – We are no longer the ‘fools’ of the past!” he wrote.
Amlo said a Mexican delegation led by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard will meet on Wednesday in Washington with Pompeo to discuss the tariffs.
Trump on Thursday said tariffs starting at five per cent and gradually increasing to 25 per cent will be applied to all Mexican imports beginning on June 10, unless Mexico does more to halt the flow of undocumented migrants.
The US tariffs would be devastating for Mexico, which sends 80 per cent of its exports to the US.
Analysts said Trump’s shock move jeopardised the chances for ratifying a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, known as the USMCA. His announcement came the same day Trump began the process of ratifying the new pact. AFP