By Mariane Angela
President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to stop migration across the southern U.S. border.
The agreement aims to curb the flow of migrant caravans and drug trafficking into the United States. In a statement posted on Truth Social, Trump praised his conversation with Sheinbaum as “wonderful.” He said that the two leaders discussed strategies not only to stop unauthorized migration through Mexico but also to tackle the significant issue of drug smuggling into the U.S.
“She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border. We also talked about what can be done to stop the massive drug inflow into the United States, and also, U.S. consumption of these drugs. It was a very productive conversation!,” Trump wrote.
Trump did not specify the strategies for addressing the drug issue. Following his announcement, the president-elect declared that the agreement would be implemented immediately.
“Mexico will stop people from going to our Southern Border, effective immediately. THIS WILL GO A LONG WAY TOWARD STOPPING THE ILLEGAL INVASION OF THE USA. Thank you!!!,” Trump said. (RELATED: ‘We Are Ready’: Mexican President Says She’s Prepared To Handle Trump’s Mass Deportations)
This agreement came after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Mexican imports. Trump took to social media Monday to announce that he would impose a 25% tariff on all goods from Mexico and Canada starting from the first day of his administration.
He said that these tariffs would remain in place until the Mexican and Canadian governments take stronger measures to curb the flow of illegal drugs and migration into the U.S. Earlier Wednesday, Sheinbaum issued a warning of potential retaliation should Trump enact his proposed tariffs on Mexican imports.
In a letter to the president-elect, Sheinbaum said the United States needs to invest in development rather than warfare. She also said the U.S. is accountable for the proliferation of firearms within Mexican borders. Sheinbaum said her administration is responsible for the recent decline in migrant encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“President Trump, migration and drug consumption in the United States cannot be addressed through threats or tariffs,” Sheinbaum wrote Tuesday to the upcoming president, according to a translation of her letter. “What is needed is cooperation and mutual understanding to tackle these significant challenges.”
UPDATE, 10:55 AM, November 28, 2024:
The Mexican President denies that Mexico will close its border:
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is pushing back on Donald Trump’s claim she promised to effectively close her country’s northern border with the United States after the incoming American leader alleged that she’d pledged to stop all migration through the country.
On Wednesday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to claim that Sheinbaum had made such a promise during a phone call earlier in the day. He wrote that she had “agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”
But Sheinbaum quickly clapped back in a post of her own on X (formerly Twitter), writing that while the pair had shared an “excellent conversation” she’d told him that the migrant caravans Trump frequently points to as evidence of chaos on the US-Mexico border have stopped reaching the US because the migrants are now “being taken car of” — receiving aid and services — in her own country.
“We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to maintain bridges between governments and people,” she said.
Trump appeared to have understood her comments to mean that Sheinbaum had somehow ordered a halt to all northward movement by anyone intending on migrating to the United States, but in her posts to X she explained that she’d taken care to “explain” to her incoming American counterpart the “comprehensive strategy that Mexico has followed to address the migration phenomenon, respecting human rights.”
