Mexico agreed to negotiations on southern border security with the United States after President Donald Trump threatened a 5% tariff on goods from Mexico should the country fail to stem the flow of undocumented immigrants into the United States.
Mexico agreed to a deal on Friday, leading the United States to hold off on issuing tariffs. However, upon examination of it, many claim that Mexico had agreed to the terms of the deal months earlier.
On Monday morning, President Trump claimed on Twitter that another "signed and documented" portion of the deal had been reached, assuring Americans that the new component of the deal would be revealed soon. He then threatened to go ahead with the tariffs should Mexico fail to lessen the flow of undocumented immigrants into the US.
There's one problem, however: Mexico says no such new portion of the deal exists.
According to a new report from the New York Times, Mexico's highest diplomat, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, the US agreed to give Mexico time to stem the flow of undocumented immigrants for 45 days, deciding the best course of action after evaluating the effectiveness of Mexico's actions. American officials corroborated Ebrard's claims.
Trump was none too happy about a related earlier New York Times report, which stated that there had essentially been no new developments in the deal with Mexico.
The Times responded:
“We are confident in our reporting, and as with so many other occasions, our stories stand up over time and the president’s denials of them do not.”
People aren't buying Trump's claims that the deal with Mexico will be a game-changer.
Another questionable aspect of the deals surrounding Mexico and the US is a purported agreement by Mexico to buy large amounts of agricultural product.
Turns out that wasn't exactly true either.
Awkward.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
@arianagrande/Instagram
@arianagrande/Instagram