Washington, DC – President Donald Trump announced Thursday the imposition of tariffs – starting at 5% in June and rising to 25% in October – on all products coming from Mexico as punishment for the growing migratory flow to through the common border.
Trump announced the measure through Twitter, where he threatened to maintain tariffs “until the moment in which the illegal migrants who come through Mexico, to our country, PAREN”.
The White House detailed in a later statement that the charges will take effect on June 10 and will initially be 5%.
“If the crisis (at the border) persists,” warned the White House, tariffs will rise to 10% on July 1, 2019.
“Similarly, if Mexico has not yet taken action to drastically reduce or eliminate the number of illegal aliens crossing its territory to the United States, tariffs will increase to 15% on August 1, 2019, to 20% on September 1 and to 25% on October 1, 2019, “he said.
Thereafter, liens will remain at 25% “unless and until Mexico substantially stops the illegal flow of foreigners coming through its territory.”
Mexico exported in the United States in 2018 346,500 million dollars in products that will be affected by this tariff imposition, from fruits and vegetables to vehicles and technology.
The White House took the opportunity to invite companies that produce in Mexico to “relocate” in the US. to not pay the tariffs or be affected in any way by the measure.
In a call with journalists, White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Trump does not mark a “specific percentage or number” to decide to end tariffs, but expects to see “a significant fall”. .
“We are going to judge success by the number of people crossing, and that number has to start to fall significantly, we are going to look at that number day by day, week by week.”
With this measure, Trump hopes that the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador will act on its southern border with Guatemala and in its country to prevent the arrival of Central American migrants to the United States.
Mulvaney urged Mexico to fight the logistical operation that immigrants use to cross the country, such as bus lines that he said controlled criminal organizations.
“We have a certain level of confidence that the Mexican government will be able to help us, we do not want to do this, but we do it to protect the country,” he added.
To impose these tariffs, Trump invoked the Law of Economic Emergency Powers International, a 1977 rule that allows to take this type of measures to face a national emergency, such as the one that the president proclaimed in February on the southern border.
The border has been experiencing a crisis for months due to the increasing flow of migrants who cross it, mostly Central American families seeking asylum.
In March they crossed the US-Mexico border. 92,831 migrants and in April were 98,977, unprecedented figures in the last decade.
This Wednesday, without going any further, crossed the sector of El Paso (Texas) a group of 1,036 immigrants, the largest ever intercepted at the border.
According to official data, since the beginning of fiscal year 2019 in October, the border has crossed the border more than half a million immigrants, a figure that exceeds all of all previous years since 2009 and that if this trend continues, it will reach one million people. Complete the 12 months.
The announcement of the imposition of tariffs came at a key moment for the ratification in the respective parliaments of the new trade treaty negotiated for months by the US, Mexico and Canada and baptized as T-MEC.
Mulvaney, in the call with journalists, wanted to separate the announcement of the president of the future of the T-MEC, when qualifying the tariffs of migratory, and non-commercial. (EFEUSA)
