Trump: US to Slap Tariffs on Mexico over ’Illegal Migrants’

By Staff- Agencies

The US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that his administration will slap a five percent tariff on all goods from Mexico starting June 10, a measure that will remain in effect until the country stops the passage of "illegal migrants" headed to the US.

Trump could put the text of the agreement before US lawmakers in 30 days, but the timing of the vote is up to Congress.

"On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP," Trump tweeted.

He further added: "The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, at which time the Tariffs will be removed.”

The announcement came a day after border security agents in El Paso, Texas detained the single largest group of migrants ever encountered by Border Patrol, comprising 1,036 people.

"It's disastrous. If this threat is carried out, it would be extremely serious," Jesus Seade, under-secretary for North American affairs at the Mexican foreign ministry, said in response to Trump's announcement.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador also submitted the trade pact to their legislatures this week.

The three countries signed an updated version of the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement back in November, and Trump this month had cleared a major stumbling block to approval by removing contentious US tariffs on Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum.

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney tried to separate the two issues, telling journalists that: "These are not tariffs as part of a trade dispute, these are tariffs as part of an immigration problem."