TIJUANA, Mexico, June 9, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Presidents Donald Trump and
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador each declared the deal averting US tariffs on
Mexico a win Saturday, as markets breathed a sigh of relief — though rights
groups condemned what they called a draconian crack down on migration.
Lopez Obrador said the bottom line on the last-minute deal reached Friday
night was simple: “there will not be an economic or financial crisis in
Mexico on Monday.”
Economists had warned the pain of Trump’s threatened tariffs — set to
start at five percent Monday and rise incrementally to 25 percent by October
— and Mexico’s likely retaliatory measures would have been acute for both
countries, with potentially global spillover.
Instead, the countries hammered out a deal in which Mexico agreed to
bolster security on its southern border and expand its policy of taking back
migrants, most of them from violence-riven Guatemala, Honduras and El
Salvador, as the United States processes their asylum claims.
Trump hailed it as a victory, after a week of terrifying his southern
neighbor, whose economy depends heavily on exports to the US.
“Mexico will try very hard, and if they do that, this will be a very
successful agreement for both the United States and Mexico!” he tweeted early
Saturday.
Later, he added: “Everyone very excited about the new deal with Mexico!”
The relief was palpable in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, where Lopez
Obrador led a rally attended by several thousand people to celebrate the deal
and “the friendship of the people of Mexico and the United States.”
However, the leftist leader — who said he had just spoken to Trump on the
phone — also warned his American counterpart that it was not enough for
Mexico to tighten its borders, saying Washington also needed to invest in
economic development in Central America to stem the exodus from the region.
“The solution cannot be found in just closing borders or coercive measures.
The only solution is to fight the lack of opportunity and poverty so that
migration is optional,” he said, speaking on a stage set up, with seeming
symbolism, next to a McDonald’s five blocks from the border.
– Border crack down –
For many, the episode was vintage Trump behavior: trigger a crisis and let
it simmer for a while, then declare it resolved and take credit.
The New York Times reported Saturday that most of the measures that Mexico
signed on to in Friday’s deal had already been agreed upon in prior
negotiations.
Some advocacy groups in Mexico criticized the deal, saying the plan to
deploy the newly created National Guard to the southern border would
militarize a humanitarian problem and result in mass detentions of innocent
women and children.
The deal criminalizes migration, said activist Luis Rey Villagran of the
Center for Human Dignity.
“In this agreement, the migrants are currency,” he said. “The National
Guard should be combatting drug traffickers, not focusing on stopping
children and women who are trying to fulfill their dreams.”
Some opponents accused Lopez Obrador of playing into Trump’s hands.
“It will make Donald Trump so happy to say he didn’t have to build his
border wall because Mexico is now the wall,” tweeted Mexican writer Esteban
Illades.
But Mexico managed to dodge one of Trump’s main demands: to accept a “safe
third country” agreement in which refugees arriving in Mexico would be forced
to seek asylum there rather than the US.
There was also acute awareness the tariffs would have clobbered the Mexican
economy, which exports $350 billion in goods each year to the US.
Economists warned the tariffs would also hurt US companies that have set up
complex supply chains across the borders with Mexico and Canada under the
North American Free Trade Agreement, and lead to higher prices on everything
from tequila to refrigerators for US consumers.
The tariffs also drew unusually strong opposition from Trump’s fellow
Republicans, especially lawmakers from farm states who worried about losing
their second-largest international market.
– ‘Unprecedented steps’ –
Mexico pledged to take “unprecedented steps” to curb the record flow of
migrant families arriving at the US border.
The number of migrants detained or blocked at the border surged to 144,000
in May — triple the level a year earlier — including an unprecedented
89,000 in families.
The United States, making official a policy that has triggered opposition
in both countries, said it would systematically send back asylum seekers who
cross the border, pending a decision on their claims. Lopez Obrador said
Mexico would offer them jobs, health care and education.
Thousands have already been sent back, prompting criticism from human
rights campaigners that the migrants will lack due process and face danger in
Mexican border cities such as Ciudad Juarez.
Trump, who has declared a crisis at the border and earlier deployed troops,
says that asylum seekers can too easily slip into the population while on US
soil.
Democrats denounced the president for taking the United States and Mexico
to the brink.
“Threats and temper tantrums are no way to negotiate foreign policy,” top
Democratic lawmaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.