Trump defends Mexico ‘deal’ amid uncertainty

The deal was announced on Friday after only three days of talks in Washington after Trump threatened to impose an across-the-board five-percent tariff on the Mexican goods.

Trump praised the deal on Sunday although almost none of its provisions have been officially publicized, and there are no guarantees that Mexico would step up control on its northern border with the US in return for the accord.

“Mexico was not being cooperative on the Border...and now I have full confidence, especially after speaking to their President yesterday, that they will be very cooperative and want to get the job properly done,” he tweeted.

“Importantly, some things not mentioned in yesterday press release, one in particular, were agreed upon. That will be announced at the appropriate time,” he added.

The only details that have found their way to the media regarding the deal have been through a joint communiqué, which was released after its conclusion.

According to the statement, the agreement expedites a program known as the Migration Protection Protocols (MPP) that was announced in December and sends illegal migrants back to Mexico until after their cases were studied on the other side of the border.
It will also see Mexico deploy the National Guard police force to the border area.

Judging from that, top Democratic senators told Reuters that many aspects of the deal were introducing nothing new on the ground.

Mexican officials cited by the agency reported no change in the migrant flow, and said none of the asylum seekers were being sent back from the border to Mexico-based camps.

Meanwhile, some argued Trump has pushed through the deal to avoid the drama arising from his tariff threat.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the agreement was a “bogus” solution used by Trump to get out of the ill-conceived threat.