WASHINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States will impose a 5% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico starting on June 10 until illegal immigration across the southern border is stopped.

“The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, at which time the Tariffs will be removed,” Trump said on Twitter.

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. The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied,.. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2019

....at which time the Tariffs will be removed. Details from the White House to follow. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2019

In a statement issued by the White House, Trump said the tariff would increase to 10% on July 1, 15% on Aug. 1, 20% on Sept. 1 and to 25% on Oct. 1.

“Mexico’s passive cooperation in allowing this mass incursion constitutes an emergency and extraordinary threat to the national security and economy of the United States,” Trump said in the statement.

“Mexico has very strong immigration laws and could easily halt the illegal flow of migrants, including by returning them to their home countries,” he said. </s> WASHINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States will impose a 5% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico starting on June 10 until illegal immigration is stopped.

“The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, at which time the Tariffs will be removed,” Trump said on Twitter. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham) </s> WASHINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States will impose a 5% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico starting on June 10 until illegal immigration across the southern border is stopped.

"The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, at which time the Tariffs will be removed," Trump said on Twitter.

In a statement issued by the White House, Trump said the tariff would increase to 10% on July 1, 15% on Aug. 1, 20% on Sept. 1 and to 25% on Oct. 1.

"Mexico´s passive cooperation in allowing this mass incursion constitutes an emergency and extraordinary threat to the national security and economy of the United States," Trump said in the statement.

"Mexico has very strong immigration laws and could easily halt the illegal flow of migrants, including by returning them to their home countries," he said. </s> WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose new tariff on Mexico if the country does not take action 'reduce or eliminate the number of illegal aliens' crossing into the U.S.



Trump said that from 10 June a 5% tariff would be imposed on all goods imported from Mexico and would slowly rise 'until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied'.



'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. The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied,' Trump tweeted.



The White House said in a statement that Trump would carry out his threat under authority from the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and that he would lift tariffs only 'if the illegal migration crisis is alleviated through effective actions taken by Mexico.'



The statement warned that if Mexico did not act as Trump demanded, tariffs would rise by 5% each month until October 1, when the rate would reach 25%.



White House also warned that Tariffs will permanently remain at the 25 percent level unless and until Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory.



Trump said in the White House statement, 'If Mexico fails to act, Tariffs will remain at the high level, and companies located in Mexico may start moving back to the United States to make their products and goods. Companies that relocate to the United States will not pay the Tariffs or be affected in any way.'



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX </s> President Trump will impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on Mexican imports if the kleptocracy south of the border doesn’t stop the flow of illegal immigrants traversing its territory to get to the United States.

Trump announced the trade penalties in a tweet late Thursday afternoon just after he posted video of more than 1,000 illegals surging across the border in the El Paso sector in the wee hours Wednesday. It was the largest group ever apprehended.

And Trump also announced that the administration will rewrite asylum rules as another means to discourage the invasion.

The Tariff

“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,” the president tweeted.

“The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied ... at which time the Tariffs will be removed. Details from the White House to follow.”

Those details are in a statement at the White House website, which opened with a candid assessment of the border crisis and Mexico’s role in helping foment it.

“For decades,” the president said, “the United States has suffered the severe and dangerous consequences of illegal immigration. Sadly, Mexico has allowed this situation to go on for many years, growing only worse with the passage of time.”

The situation is “from a safety, national security, military, economic, and humanitarian standpoint” a “grave disaster.” And American taxpayer, the president said, “bears the extraordinary financial cost imposed by large-scale illegal migration.”

Now he said, “Mexico must step up and help solve this problem.”

If the illegal migration crisis is alleviated through effective actions taken by Mexico, to be determined in our sole discretion and judgment, the Tariffs will be removed. If the crisis persists, however, the Tariffs will be raised to 10 percent on July 1, 2019. Similarly, if Mexico still has not taken action to dramatically reduce or eliminate the number of illegal aliens crossing its territory into the United States, Tariffs will be increased to 15 percent on August 1, 2019, to 20 percent on September 1, 2019, and to 25 percent on October 1, 2019. Tariffs will permanently remain at the 25 percent level unless and until Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory. Workers who come to our country through the legal admissions process, including those working on farms, ranches, and in other businesses, will be allowed easy passage.

If Mexico fails to act, Tariffs will remain at the high level, and companies located in Mexico may start moving back to the United States to make their products and goods. Companies that relocate to the United States will not pay the Tariffs or be affected in any way.

Trump said Mexico has enriched itself in its dealing with the United States, not least with jobs moving south across the border, and so if Mexico doesn’t cooperate, “the sustained imposition of Tariffs will produce a massive return of jobs back to American cities and towns. Remember, our great country has been the ‘piggy bank’ from which everybody wants only to TAKE.”

Asylum Rules

Politico reported yesterday that Trump will also adjust the rules that govern applications for asylum. The new rules would block applications from illegals who live in another country other than their own before they arrive here.

Thus, migrants traveling through Mexico would not be permitted to apply. “U.S. law allows refugees to request asylum when they arrive on U.S. soil, but has long included an exemption for those who have already emigrated to a safe country,” Politico noted.

Free-traders and open-borders advocates are aghast, of course, and will most likely immediately file suit to stop the asylum change if not the tariff. Leftist subversives persuaded the federal courts, backed by the U.S. Supreme Court, to block Trump’s last effort to adjust asylum policy.

The policy is “extreme,” one told Politico, because it would block all Central Americans from applying for asylum.

Wrote Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, “How did a country of fraternity for all the migrants in the world become, from night to dawn, a ghetto, a closed space.” After all, he added, “the statue of liberty is not an empty symbol.”

AMLO, as he is known, did offer to help pay for the care, feeding, and other costs of the more than half-million illegals, almost all Central Americans, he permitted to cross Mexico to get to the United States. </s> President Donald Trump late Thursday evening said in a tweet that his administration is hitting Mexico with new tariffs over migrants traveling through the country and entering the United States illegally.

Tariffs have become the White House’s preferred method of doing business, and the new duties are aside from the new trade deal, the USMCA, the president struck with Mexico and Canada as a replacement for NAFTA.

The new tariffs will take effect on June 10, and Trump warned that the new levies will gradually increase to as high as 25% by Oct. 1, Trump said in a statement released by the White House.

“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 said via Twitter. “The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, at which time the Tariffs will be removed. Details from the White House to follow.”

The new tariffs would have major implications for the U.S. auto industry and all companies who do business south of the border as Trump continues to ramp up trade wars across the globe, the latest news coming just days after his administration removed tariffs on steel coming from Mexico.

The move will come at a cost to both countries. The U.S. accounts for about four-fifths of all of Mexico’s exports, and about 28% of its total GDP, according to Bloomberg.

To the U.S., 5% tariffs on $346 billion worth of goods amounts to about $17 billion, rising to $87 billion if the tariffs hit 25%. U.S. consumers will end up footing the bill and the impact will be felt more directly than say with the tariffs against China, considering the amount of food that comes into the United States from Mexico.

Wall Street did not react well on the news, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial both sinking 1.1% in pre-market trading Friday morning, and the Nasdaq down 1.3%. The news also sent the Mexican peso down 3%.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador posted a letter on Twitter, saying “President Donald Trump in peace” in a tweet accompanying the letter, which is in Spanish.

The letter tells Trump that “social problems are not solved with duties or coercive measures” and alluded to the United States’ history as a nation of immigrants.

“The Statue of Liberty is not an empty symbol,” he wrote. He also said he was dispatching his foreign relations secretary to Washington on Friday to try to negotiate a solution, according to the Associated Press.

The timing is particularly peculiar, with the administration pushing hard to get the new USMCA trade pact finalized in Congress.

“The tariffs certainly put the USMCA on ice,” said Gary Hufbauer, an expert in trade law at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who panned the move but said Trump does have the legal authority to impose the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by citing a national emergency.

“The drama is legal, but it’s preposterous,” he said.

Daniel Ujczo, a U.S.-based international trade lawyer, said the threat would likely slow the deal’s progress in Mexico and put U.S. lawmakers who want to vote “yes” in a difficult position because companies in their districts — and then ultimately U.S. consumers — will end up paying the tariffs.

Still, Ujczo and others wondered whether Trump would go through with the threat.

“This seems more theater and tactics than a strategy to solve the migration crisis and rebalance North American trade,” Ujczo said.

It wouldn’t be the first time Trump has backed off an immigration threat if that ends up being the case. Trump previously threatened to shut down the entire southern border if Mexico didn’t halt the migrants moving toward the U.S. border. A couple of days later he backed off, saying he was pleased Mexico was taking steps toward stopping the flow of migrants.

Later in the morning, Trump tweeted again on the issue, putting the onus on Democrats because “they want Open Borders.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Editor’s note: Is this the right move or an empty threat? Are things getting out of control with the tariffs, driving up costs for U.S. consumers, or do the ends justify the means to stop the flow of illegal immigrants? Perhaps a … border wall? Share your thoughts below. </s> Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador hit back at President Trump in a public letter, decrying his plan to impose a 5 percent tariff on Mexican imports because of the administration’s border migrant crisis. “With all due respect, although you have the right to express it, ‘America First’ is a fallacy because until the end of times, even beyond national borders, justice and universal fraternity will prevail,” López Obrador wrote in a letter released late Thursday. The Mexican president said his foreign minister would be in Washington, D.C., on Friday to negotiate with U.S. officials. On Thursday, Trump tweeted that on June 10 the U.S. “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.” “The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied,” the president added. White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters that the tariffs would be raised to 10 percent in July, 15 percent in August, 20 percent in September, and 25 percent in October. </s> In a surprise announcement that could derail a trade deal, President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he is slapping a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports, effective June 10, to pressure the country to do more to crack down on the surge of migrants trying to cross the U.S. border.

He said the percentage will gradually increase — up to 25% — “until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.”

The decision showed the administration going to new lengths, and looking for new levers, to pressure Mexico to take action — even if those risk upending other policy priorities, such as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal that is the cornerstone of Trump’s legislative agenda. It also risks further damaging the already strained relationship between the U.S. and Mexico, two countries whose economics are deeply intertwined.

Trump made the announcement via tweet after telling reporters earlier Thursday that he was planning “a major statement” that would be his “biggest” on the border.

“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,” he wrote. “The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.”

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador responded in a public letter Thursday, telling Trump that “social problems are not solved with duties or coercive measures” and alluded to the United States’ history as a nation of immigrants. “The Statue of Liberty is not an empty symbol,” he wrote. He said he was dispatching his foreign relations secretary to Washington, D.C., on Friday to try to negotiate a solution.

In his growing fury over an increase in border crossings that he has likened to an “invasion,” Trump has blamed Mexico for failing to stop the flow of asylum seekers from countries such as El Salvador and Honduras who pass through its territory.

He has been itching to take headline-grabbing action on the issue, which he sees as critical to his 2020 campaign because it energizes his base.

But the sudden tariff threat comes at a peculiar time, given how hard the administration has been pushing for passage of the USMCA, which would update the North American Free Trade Agreement.

It comes less than two weeks after Trump lifted import taxes on Mexican and Canadian steel and aluminum, a move that seemed to clear an obstacle to its passage, and the same day that both Trump and López Obrador began the process of seeking ratification. The deal needs approval from lawmakers in all three countries before it takes effect.

“The tariffs certainly put the USMCA on ice,” said Gary Hufbauer, an expert in trade law at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who panned the move but said Trump does have the legal authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by citing a national emergency.

“The drama is legal, but it’s preposterous,” he said.

Daniel Ujczo, a U.S.-based international trade lawyer, said the threat would likely slow the deal’s progress in Mexico and put U.S. lawmakers who want to vote “yes” in a difficult position because companies in their districts will end up paying the tariffs.

It wouldn’t be the first time Trump has punted on an immigration threat. In late March, Trump threatened to shut the entire southern border if Mexico didn’t immediately halt illegal immigration.

RELATED: Mexican President Attacks Trump After Tariffs: ‘America First Is a Fallacy’

Just a few days later, he backed off the threat, saying he was pleased with steps Mexico had taken in recent days.

Indeed, on a briefing call with reporters Thursday night, administration officials said Mexico could prevent the tariffs from kicking in by securing their southern border with Guatemala and entering into a “safe third country agreement” that would make it difficult for those who enter Mexico from other countries to claim asylum in the U.S.

“We’re going to judge success here by the number of people crossing the border and that number needs to start coming down immediately, in a significant and substantial number,” said acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

He also insisted that tariffs were “completely” separate from the USMCA because one pertained to immigration and the other trade.

The threat drew a withering response from Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, a usual Trump ally, who slammed it as “a misuse of presidential tariff authority” that would burden American consumers and “seriously jeopardize passage of USMCA.”

Mulvaney said the White House had briefed a number of Republicans on the plan and acknowledged that some — particularly in the Senate — had raised concerns about the president invoking such powers.

The threat comes at a time when Mexico has been stepping up its efforts to crack down on migrants, carrying out raids and detaining thousands of people traveling through the country en route to the U.S.

The crumbling city of Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border, has become the epicenter of the crackdowns, with thousands of migrants stranded because the Mexican government isn’t providing them visas to travel. In addition, the Mexican government has allowed the U.S. to send back hundreds of asylum seekers from Central America and other countries, forcing the people to wait out their cases in Mexico.

But that hasn’t satisfied Trump, whose administration laid out an escalating schedule of tariff increases if his demands are not met: 10% on July 1, 15% on Aug. 1, 20% on Sept. 1 and 25% on Oct. 1.

After that, the White House said, “tariffs will permanently remain at the 25% level unless and until Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. </s> President Donald Trump has said he is slapping a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports to pressure the country to do more to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants trying to cross the US border.

The tariff is effective from June 10.

The president said the percentage will gradually increase “until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied”.

Mr Trump made the announcement by tweet after telling reporters earlier on Thursday that he was planning “a major statement” that would be his “biggest” so far on the border.

Mr Trump has accused the Mexican government of failing to do enough to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants who have been flowing to the US in search of asylum from countries including El Salvador, Honduras and Gautama.

It is unclear how this will impact the new United States-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
U.S. President Donald Trump announces a 5% import tariff on all products from Mexico, effective June 10 and rising in steps to 25% by October, "until the illegal immigration problem is remedied".