President Trump said Thursday afternoon that Mexican authorities are doing a “great job” stopping Central American migrants and that he doubts he will “ever” close the border with Mexico.
The remarks followed Trump backing down earlier in the day on his threat to close the border after fellow Republicans expressed horror at the possible economic effects.
In his afternoon remarks, Trump specified that a tariff on cars would be 25%, and said the one-year time frame was flexible.
“I will say this, Mexico, the last four days, has really done a great job on their southern border — with Honduras, with Guatemala, with El Salvador — of grabbing and taking and bringing people back to their countries,” Trump said. “We’ve told them, if you don’t do that, we’re going to close the border. But before we close the border, we’ll put the tariffs on the cars. I don’t think we’ll ever have to close the border, because the penalty of tariffs on cars coming into the United States from Mexico at 25% will be massive.”
In the morning, Trump said he would give Mexico a “one year-warning” to reduce illegal immigration and drug smuggling or face a tariff on cars, after which a border closure would be considered.
Trump told reporters at the White House in the afternoon, however, that “Mexico has been doing a very good job the last three or four days, since we talked about closing the border.”
Trump first threatened to close the border last week, including to “all trade,” in response to Central American migrant caravans. When Mexico arrested migrants, Trump said Tuesday he would still close the border if Democrats in Congress did not pass various immigration-restricting reforms. He abandoned that demand Thursday.
