Trump says Mexican president committed to 'stopping immigration'

Photo: Eric Lee Pool via Associated Press Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Nov. 20

Agence France-Presse in Washington

Posted at 19:57 Updated at 20:51

• United States

US President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed in a phone call to “stop illegal immigration” to the United States by “closing” the border between them.

“She agreed to stop immigration through Mexico and into the United States, closing our southern border,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform, referring to “a wonderful conversation with the new president of Mexico.”

“Mexico is going to stop people from coming to our southern border, starting now,” he continued in another message, saying the move would go “a long way toward stopping the illegal invasion of the United States.”

The left-wing Mexican president had earlier said she had had an “excellent discussion” with the Republican on security and immigration, without mentioning any such commitment or closing the border.

“We discussed Mexico’s strategy for dealing with the migration phenomenon,” she said on X, adding that she told her interlocutor “that [migrant] caravans are not arriving at the northern border [between the country and the United States] because they are being processed in Mexico.”

The phone call comes days after the Republican speaker threatened Mexico, Canada and China with a sharp increase in tariffs.

Read also

• Trump promises to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products
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• Editorial | Collateral Electoral Damage

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Fentanyl

The president-elect confirmed Monday his intention to “impose on Mexico and Canada 25% tariffs on ALL products entering the United States,” starting January 20, the day of his inauguration.

“This tax will remain in effect until drugs, especially fentanyl, and all illegal immigrants stop this invasion of our country!” he added.

Migrant caravans from several South and Central American countries are crossing Mexico to reach the United States by land.

Donald Trump, who campaigned in 2016 on a promise to build a wall along the Mexican border, has hammered out harsh rhetoric toward migrants throughout the presidential campaign, accusing them of poisoning America’s “blood,” and has promised to end what he calls an “invasion.”

The Mexican president said Wednesday that she had spoken with him about strengthening “collaboration on security issues” and a campaign in Mexico “to prevent the use of fentanyl.”

Donald Trump, for his part, mentioned a discussion on “what can be done to stop the massive influx of drugs into the United States, as well as the use of these drugs by Americans.”

Fentanyl is a synthetic drug “about 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin,” according to the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

According to Washington, fentanyl, often produced in Mexico with chemical compounds that come in particular from China, causes more than 70,000 deaths by overdose each year on the ground American.

“Bullet in the foot”

Before this phone call, the Mexican president had warned her future American counterpart of the consequences of her shock announcements: “President Trump, it is not through threats or customs tariffs that you are going to stop the phenomenon of immigration, nor drug consumption in the United States,” she had declared in a letter.

Claudia Sheinbaum had threatened to increase Mexican customs tariffs on American products in turn, deploring that this trade war threatens competitiveness, inflation and employment in North America.

“I am sure that there will be an agreement with the United States and President Trump,” the president had detailed in response to a question during a press conference, after reading her letter to the American president.

The United States would be “shooting itself in the foot” by increasing tariffs on Mexican exports by 25%, Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Wednesday.

“The impact on businesses would be enormous,” he added to the press, estimating that 400,000 jobs would be at risk in the United States.

Mexico, more than 83% of whose exports go to the United States, is a member of the North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Canada (USMCA).