Mexico and the United States reached an agreement Friday to end the threat of a 5% tariff on Mexican goods that was to go into effect Monday.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced at 7:30pm CDT that the two countries have signed an agreement and that the tariffs are “hereby indefinitely suspended.”
Trump said Mexico “has agreed to take strong measures to stem the tide of migration through Mexico, and to our southern border. This is being done to greatly reduce, or eliminate, illegal immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States.”
The chief measures in the agreement are the deployment of the National Guard to the southern border and allowing migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. to remain in Mexico while they await a decision from authorities in the U.S., according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard.
He said Mexico agreed to deploy the National Guard to the southern border and elsewhere in the country starting Monday with the intention of reducing illegal immigration, while it will offer job opportunities and access to education and health services to migrants seeking asylum in the U.S.
A team of negotiators headed by Ebrard has been in talks with U.S. officials, including Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in Washington since Wednesday.
Mexico had offered earlier to send 6,000 members of the National Guard to the southern border to deter the entry of undocumented migrants.
Source: El Financiero (sp), New York Times (en)
