American President-elect Donald Trump assured Wednesday that the Mexican president had agreed during a telephone exchange to “stop illegal immigration” towards the United States. Which Claudia Sheinbaum denied shortly after, emphasizing that Mexico’s position “is not to close the borders.”
“She agreed to end immigration through Mexico and into the United States, thus closing our southern border,” declared the American president-elect on his Truth Social platform, referring to “a wonderful conversation with the new president of Mexico.
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“Mexico will prevent people from traveling to our southern border, starting immediately,” he continued in another message, assuring that this measure would “go a long way to putting an end to the illegal invasion of UNITED STATES”.
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Contradicted remarks
These remarks were shortly afterwards contradicted by the Mexican president on the social network ) We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders, but to build bridges between governments and between peoples,” wrote Claudia Sheinbaum.
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Earlier, the left-wing leader had specified that she had had an “excellent discussion” with the Republican on the subjects of security and immigration.
“We discussed the Mexican strategy in the face of the phenomenon of migration,” she said on countries and the United States) because they are taken care of in Mexico.
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Increase in customs tariffs
This phone call comes a few days after the Republican tribune threatened Mexico, Canada and China with a sharp increase in customs tariffs.
The president-elect confirmed Monday his desire to “impose customs duties of 25% on ALL products entering the United States” on Mexico and Canada, starting January 20, the day of his inauguration.
“This tax will remain in effect until drugs, especially fentanyl, and all illegal immigrants stop this invasion of our country!” he added.
The Mexican currency, which fell to its lowest level in 28 months on Tuesday in reaction to these announcements, rebounded strongly on Wednesday.
Customs that crystallizes tensions
Caravans of migrants from several countries in South and Central America are crossing Mexico to reach the United States by land.
Donald Trump, who campaigned in 2016 promising to build a wall along the Mexican border, hammered out violent rhetoric towards migrants throughout the presidential campaign, accusing them of poisoning American “blood”, and has promised to put an end to what he describes as an “invasion”.
The Mexican president said Wednesday that she had spoken with him about strengthening “collaboration on security issues” and a campaign in Mexico “to prevent the consumption of fentanyl.”
Fentanyl is a synthetic drug “approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin,” according to the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
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