Amid Criticism, Trump Defends Mexico Deal Avoiding Tariffs
Speaker 1: 00:00 Just what could change along our border with Tijuana as a result of last week's political drama over a possible terrorists on Mexico, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was in Tijuana over the weekend and his approach to Mexico, US relations is in stark contrast to president Trump's where Trump had threatened punitive trade tariffs. If Mexico does not do more to stem immigration from Central America. Lopez Obrador called for cooperation. NPOS, Carrie Kahn, who by the way used to be part of our KPBS news from here. It is here in our border region covering developments and joins me now via Skype carry. Good to talk to you. Speaker 2: 00:39 Hi Allison. It's great to be with you guys. Speaker 1: 00:42 So now both United States and Mexico are celebrating this deal that was reached on Friday to avert the trade tariffs and President Donald Trump has claiming a political victory. But some observers say the deal reached on Friday, added very little to what was already in place. What exactly did it add? Speaker 2: 00:58 Well, I think there's an evaluation period that they're talking about that they'll have markers to see. They're looking for an immediate drop in the number of Central American migrants that actually make it to across the u s border. So they're sort of, uh, milestones and markers they didn't really have before. But it's true. There isn't a whole lot difference. There's commitments from Mexico that they'll do more. Mexico really jumped in and ran to Washington and really tried to appease the Trump administration. And I think maybe there are members in the Trump administration who didn't feel like they were getting that sort of cooperation, that attention from Mexico. And so those sorts of things are new, I believe. Speaker 1: 01:40 Well over the weekends, Lopez Obrador held a rally and to fauna and, uh, that was billed as a unity rally. And we have a little tape of, of what he said there. Let's listen. Speaker 3: 01:50 I Bet I see them. They don't know what is Ho no, they live on, hey, Borneo Serato. She known [inaudible] Franca. Speaker 1: 02:05 So that was a Mexican President Lopez Obrador telling a crowd in Tijuana that he's not raising a closed fist to president Trump, but he's rather extending an open hand. But last year on the campaign trail, he said Mexico wasn't going to do the dirty work of a foreign government on migration, so how's he treading this line? Carrie? How was his message received Speaker 2: 02:27 when Lopez Obrador was campaigning for president? He did take sort of a stronger dance when it came to Trump and his threats and now that he's become president, he takes a very conciliatory stance with him. He always says things like, we just heard, I don't want he the love and peace president. He does not want confrontation. Confrontation is not the way for neighbors to behave. And that comment, they, the clip that you played, I kind of interpreted in head saying, I'm not going to do this to you. President Trump don't do it us. And there was lots of contradictory statements in the rally on Saturday. The whole thing was billed as this unity in defense of Mexico and celebrating our friendship with the US. We can say one thing and then there'd be another message there. It's an interesting line that he walks. Speaker 1: 03:20 And do you think that the response was also mixed in the sense that some people would rather that he took a, uh, a more aggressive stance in response to president Trump? Speaker 2: 03:28 Well, I do. There are people in Mexico that are not happy with a stance, but I have to always catch that with overwhelmingly the people of Mexico support Lopez Obrador, you know, his approval ratings, Alison as high as 80%. If you look at certain polls, that's unheard of in the political class, in the opinion class. And in former officials, they're not too happy with a lot of it and say, what did Mexico get out of this? We just gave in a lot. But the people are strongly behind him. And that rally was huge in Tijuana. He's there, went on for blocks downtown. Speaker 1: 04:04 So bearing in mind that the agreement suggests there might be more, uh, immigrants now being held in Mexico rather than being allowed across the border with the remain in Mexico policy. What kind of investments has Lopez Obrador said he will make to help the local communities deal with the influx of Central American migrants? Speaker 2: 04:22 Absolutely none. That's that. Those are all the big questions. And uh, on top of that, the immigration budget and the budget for the refugee agency, which is called Kumar, has been slashed, you know, Lopez Obrador came into power, uh, vowing to cut down on corruption and also have an austere government. And boy, he has really done that pledge and he, he's cut the budget of both of those agencies. It's, it's unclear where this stepped up. Enforcement is going to come from, especially the national guard and this number that we keep hearing of 6,000, the national guard isn't even up and running yet. It's going to be constituted from existing police forces, which have a whole host of its own priorities. Not to mention, um, combating drug trafficking. The whole thing that's going on with the gas pipeline, thefts, commenting that, you know, where are these troops going to come from that are going to go down to the border and one are they going to get there? Speaker 1: 05:20 Hmm. Well, just in the little time we have left, Carrie, just let's touch on the business aspect of this because businesses on both sides are breathing a sigh of relief because the tariffs were averted. But president Trump has dangling the prospect of renewing them if immigration doesn't go down. So I mean, do you think that this, this ongoing threat of Paris is going to affect commerce on the border? Speaker 2: 05:44 I've talked to different business leaders. I went all the way past Mexicali all the way to Tijuana and I talked to some business people and it was interesting at first when this first started happening, workers alike and business leaders are, oh, this is just Trump, nothing's going to come out of it. He always, you know, blusters backs down. Then when it got closer, people were concerned and I talked to this us, um, farmer that had amazing operations in the Mexicali Valley and he just said, you know, we can't operate in this uncertainty. Business hates uncertainty and this is just a mess and this has to be settled. So they're not happy about the continued, the continued threats about this. The, I went to a Macula Dora of a man who, um, manages like 45 Makela doors in the Baja California region, and he wasn't as concerned. He said, he brings down clients that will set up shop and he said he only had one person, one business saying they were going to hold off and wait. That he had several others that said they were going to come down and they weren't concerned because their investments are longterm and any sort of tariffs that would be slapped on Mexican products, exports would take months to years for that to take an effect. So people weren't that concerned. So you get mixed emotions. I think the uncertainty is what upsets mostly businesses will carry. Thanks so much for your good reporting along the border there. You're welcome. Nice to talk to you, Alison. Very con and prs international correspondent from Mexico.
