June 9, 2019-After a week of negotiations between Mexican and U.S. officials, the United States and Mexico promised to work together to curb irregular migration and promote economic growth and good governance in Central America.
U.S. President Donald Trump said in a message on Twitter that new tariffs on Mexican goods would be “indefinitely suspended.”
Against widespread opposition in Congress and Wall Street, Trump had threatened to impose tariffs of 5 percent starting June 10 and 25 percent in October, saying that Mexico needed to do more to curb migration flows from Central America to the United States. “I think Mexico has to step up. And if they don’t, tariffs will go on,” Trump said June 5 during a joint press briefing with Ireland’s Prime Minister. “And if they go high, the companies are going to move back into the United States. That’s all. It’s very simple.”
By the weekend, Trump announced a deal for “great cooperation” between the two countries.
Joint Statement
The joint declaration says that Mexico will increase its enforcement of migration, especially at its Southern border, and take “decisive action to dismantle human smuggling and trafficking organizations as well as their illicit financial and transportation networks.”
Furthermore, it says the United States will expand existing protocals to return asylum seekers crossing the U.S. border to Mexico where their claims will be processed and where the government would offer jobs, education and healthcare.
The statement notably said the United States welcomes a comprehensive economic plan for Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, but it did not say whether the U.S. government would be contributing funds.
Economic Plan for Central America
The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) presented the plan in Mexico City late last month. According to various press reports, and the regional plan developed by Mexico would integrate electric systems in the region, invest in infrastructure, provide funds for social services, and build a natural gas pipeline. Overall, it would cost about $10 billion a year.
“People migrate out of necessity, due to lack of job opportunities or violence, and we must address those causes, we must go to the origin of what is causing this migratory phenomenon,” Mexican President Andrés López Obrador said at a May 20 event announcing the plan
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Press citations include Reuters, the Associated Press and El Sol Latino.
