Ag Policy Blog

President Donald Trump took a victory lap on Twitter early Saturday after announcing late Friday that the U.S. had reached a deal with Mexico and would not impose tariffs starting Monday.

Besides helping stop the flow of migrants into the U.S., the president said U.S. farmers would see more exports to Mexico.

The president tweeted, "MEXICO HAS AGREED TO IMMEDIATELY BEGIN BUYING LARGE QUANTITIES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT FROM OUR GREAT PATRIOT FARMERS!"

Mexico imported $19 billion in U.S. agricultural products in 2018, making it the No. 2 overall market, despite Mexico imposing retaliatory tariffs on several agricultural products last year. Those tariffs were lifted last month.

Trump had threatened to start imposing a 5% tariff on all imported goods from Mexico starting Monday. The tariff would increase in the following months if Mexico did not do more to help stop migrants from Central American countries from entering the U.S.

The president tweeted Friday evening, "I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico. The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended. Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measures to...." then adding, "....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. Details of the agreement will be released shortly by the State Department. Thank you!"

The State Department issued a joint declaration stating "Mexico will take unprecedented steps to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration, to include the deployment of its National Guard throughout Mexico, giving priority to its southern border." https://www.state.gov/…

Under the deal, more migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. will have to wait in Mexico.

The president again tweeted Saturday, "Mexico will try very hard, and if they do that, this will be a very successful agreement for both the United States and Mexico!"

After lashing out at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats in another tweet, he called on them to lead the way on the USMCA. Trump then tweeted, "Everyone very excited about the new deal with Mexico!"

https://twitter.com/…

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @ChrisClaytonDTN

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