Free Republic

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he plans to pay for the U.S.-Mexico immigration deal by selling his presidential plane. “About how much this plan is going to cost, let me say, we have the budget,” López Obrador said at a Wednesday press conference with Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard. “It would come out of what we’re going to receive from the sale of the luxurious presidential plane.” The Mexican president said he expects the plane to sell for at least $150 million and that the country would also sell off other airplanes to pay for the deal. The...

If Donald Trump’s triumph on Friday lacked anything, it was that Mexico had staved off a demand to change its asylum policies. The Trump administration had demanded that Mexico adopt the “safe third country” protocol, by which asylum seekers would have to apply in the first safe country in which they set foot. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had insisted that he would never agree to it, and it appeared he successfully resisted it — while making a series of other concessions to avoid tariffs.Today, however, Mexico conceded that the issue will be on the table if the commitments...

The Mexican foreign minister says no secret immigration deal exists between Mexico and the US, just hours after President Donald Trump tweeted that a “fully signed and documented” agreement would be “be revealed in the not too distant future.” Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s top diplomat, said in a news conference in Mexico City on Monday that there was an understanding that both countries would evaluate the number of migrants crossing the border of Mexico and the United States in the coming months, according to the New York Times. If the number is no significantly reduced, Mr Ebrard says, both nations will...

LAREDO, Texas — The edges of this small border city bustle with activity as construction vehicles clear flat expanses of land for massive warehouses, and semi-trucks moving American and Mexican goods appear to cover every inch of roadway. To James Gonzalez, 33, the sterile, boxy buildings and traffic congestion only a few miles from the five bridges that connect the U.S. to Mexico represent financial success and future business opportunities. The city's fortunes, based entirely on trade between the two countries, is forever tied to the United States’ kinship with or animus for its southern neighbor. The closeness of that...

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge suggested in an interview that aired Friday on "Rising" that he did not believe President Trump's move to slap new tariffs on Mexico would solve the immigration issue at the U.S. southern border. "I'm not quite sure tariffs on Mexico are going to solve the problem for us," Ridge, who served under former President George W. Bush, told Hill.TV. "I have a great deal of support for the notion about securing the borders, but I think we politicize the issue instead of solving the problem," he continued. The Hill obtained a draft document on...

President Trump said Friday that there is a “good chance” that U.S. and Mexican officials could strike a deal that would remove the need to impose tariffs he has threatened, shifting his tone as the two sides continued to negotiate steps to address the surge of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border. “If we are able to make the deal with Mexico, & there is a good chance that we will, they will begin purchasing Farm & Agricultural products at very high levels, starting immediately,” Trump said in a tweet. “If we are unable to make the deal, Mexico will...

While the President is overseas honoring D-Day, the cable news talking heads back home have been busy critiquing his recently announced plan to impose an increasing series of tariffs on Mexico unless that nation stops the flood of migrants passing through their country toward the United States. The plan has been described in the press with a variety of terms ranging from reckless to impossible. After all, even if Mexico was willing to consider such a deal, how could they possibly stop the human tide from flowing across their own southern border?Well, the tariffs must have gotten their attention....

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfTlvxphIQk

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Monday that his country would reject a proposed solution to the immigration and tariff stand-off with the U.S. that would involve it keeping Central American asylum seekers. The proposal, which has not been formally made by the U.S., would involve Mexico being designated a "safe third country" for the immigrants, meaning that refugees passing through Mexico to the U.S. would first have to claim asylum in Mexico. The U.S. has a similar agreement with Canada. "An agreement about a safe third country would not be acceptable for Mexico,” Ebrard told reporters shortly before a...

Following president Donald Trump's threats to hit Mexico with tariff hikes if the country fails to stem the flood of illegal immigrants, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador responded by saying they could be "prepared to reach out the deal." White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney reaffirmed that Trump is "deadly serious" about levying a 5% tariff on Mexican goods if the Mexican government if they don't step up enforcement on the southern side of the border,

Mexico's top diplomats are knocking on doors in Washington this week, looking for a compromise to avoid the 5 percent tariffs that President Trump has vowed to impose on their exports beginning next week. Trump said he would impose the tariffs and that they would escalate over time unless Mexico took unspecified steps to curb the immigration crisis at the border. Mexico Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard told reporters in Washington on Monday that the tariffs would be counterproductive in combatting mass migration from Central America, and that the economic fallout could further weaken Mexico's ability to control migration in the...

President Trump believes, not without good reason, that the Mexican government is not doing its utmost to stop the illegal flow of Central Americans crossing the U.S. border. And so he has responded with . . . a $17 billion–a–year–and–rising sales tax on Americans. The president loves tariffs. He believes that they are an effective means of protecting American firms from unfair overseas competition and a good negotiating tool as he works to reform trade agreements that he believes are disadvantageous to Americans. But the question of who ends up actually paying any given tax is complicated. The price of...

Mexican president hints at migration concessions

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador dispatched his foreign relations secretary to Washington on Friday, as the country scrambles to negotiate a solution with the United States following President Trump’s surprise move this week to slap tariffs on Mexico in the hopes it would remedy the illegal immigration surge at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups are considering ways to challenge the new tariffs on goods imported from Mexico. The powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which advocates for cheap labor policies and opposes American First trade initiatives, told reporters Friday that it is considering all options, including legal challenges, to thwart the Trump administration’s policy. “We have no choice but to pursue every option available to push back,” Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Friday.

Poor people have a right to migrate to the United States, and migrants should not be stopped by force, according to a letter from Mexico’s president to U.S. President Donald Trump. President López Obrador’s May 30 letter, provided by the Wall Street Journal, claimed a migrant’s “right for justice,”

It hasn’t been China that has been the source of sudden escalation; nor Iran; nor North Korea; nor Turkey, who admittedly gave it a good go in announcing they may install Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missiles in the area of the Mediterranean they are looking for energy in despite protests from the EU’s Cyprus it’s their naval territory; nor even Italy, where Deputy PM Salvini is threatening new elections that would very likely strengthen his hand further has he prepares for battle with Brussels. No, it was Mexico. (Or rather US President Trump, which is less of a surprise.) Don’t get...

Stocks and bond yields around the world fell Friday after President Trump threatened to impose escalating tariffs on Mexico, capping a brutal month for markets as rising trade tensions roiled investor confidence. The threat pushed stock markets down as investors feared applying tariffs on Mexican products could hurt corporate earnings, increase prices for U.S. consumers and crimp economic growth. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 300 points, while the Nasdaq Composite Index and S&P 500 both fell more than 1%. As investors sold stocks, they moved to government bonds, gold and the Japanese yen, all assets typically perceived...

AMLO knows there is no way for Mexico to begin retaliating against the U.S. after President Trump demanded they step-up migration travel enforcement or face U.S. tariffs on Mexican imports. [snip] All business interests in Mexico will take a financial hit... (Reuters) The announcement rattled investors who feared that worsening trade frictions could hurt the global economy. The Mexican peso, U.S. stock index futures and Asian stock markets tumbled on the news, including the shares of Japanese automakers who ship cars from Mexico to the United States. [snip] FLASHBACK June 2018 … Interestingly, people now started to take notice because...

<p>WASHINGTON – The president of Mexico says he wants to avoid a confrontation with the United States, but had harsh words about President Donald Trump's plan to impose tariffs on Mexican goods to pressure the nation to stem the flow of Central American migrants.</p>