Mexico seeks to nullify Trump tariff threat
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Mexico is going all out this week on the lobbying front.
Top officials from the government, private sector and members of the country鈥檚 Congress make up the largest Mexican delegation dispatched to Washington since Mexican President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador took office in December
The multifaceted effort, which started just hours after US President Donald Trump last week announced his intention to impose a 5 percent tariff on Mexico, aims to get a compromise that avoids such a duty before a Monday deadline.
The first critical moment came on Wednesday, when Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard talked to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a meeting presided over by Vice President Mike Pence at the White House.
After the meeting ended in the evening, both delegations said they would continue negotiating.
Trump himself was out of town for a state visit to Britain and D-Day commemorations, though he has fired Twitter shots from across the sea to repeat his vow to impose tariffs unless Mexico takes tougher action to halt migration.
鈥淎s a sign of good faith, Mexico should immediately stop the flow of people and drugs through their country and to our Southern Border. They can do it if they want!鈥 he tweeted on Monday.
A Mexican official said the lobbying effort includes meetings with members of Congress, think tanks, businessmen and current and former US governors.
鈥淭he goal is to gain time and try to deactivate the threat,鈥 said the official.
The official said Mexico was in a 鈥淐atch 22鈥 situation because while it has stepped up immigration enforcement, it cannot brag publicly about it because of domestic political tensions.
鈥淭here is a fine line between what we can say and what we cannot,鈥 the official said. 鈥淭he US knows where we are and keeps pushing. We are between a rock and a hard place.鈥
The issue has allied Mexico鈥檚 government with influential sectors in the US that say the tariffs would damage both nations. Most of Mexico鈥檚 exports go to the US, and Mexico is the US鈥 top trading partner.
Tom Donohue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce, visited the Mexican embassy on Tuesday and was expected to meet with top Mexican businessmen this week. The chamber said recently it was considering legal action to block the tariffs from going into effect.
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