Mexico Celebrates 'Important Deal' With U.S., President Says

(Bloomberg) -- Mexico should celebrate the “important deal” with the U.S. that removed the threat of tariffs as it was preparing to retaliate, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at a rally in Tijuana.

The U.S. needs to address the root cause of migration to stem the flow of people trying to enter and closing borders won’t stop the flood, Lopez Obrador said at the rally that had been initially organized after President Donald Trump had threatened to impose tariffs over the immigration issue. Trump dropped the planned penalties on Friday after Mexico agreed to do more to end illegal immigration.

Under the deal, Mexico will expand deployment of its national guard throughout the country, “giving priority to its southern border,” according to a joint statement from the two countries. Asylum seekers who cross into the U.S. will be quickly returned to Mexico where they’ll wait for their claims to be resolved; the U.S. agreed to accelerate adjudication.

Lopez Obrador said at the event attended by the top political figures that Trump’s threats had put Mexico in a "difficult situation" that would have forced the country to respond with retaliatory tariffs, a move he rejected.

He also called on the U.S. and Canada to do more to spur development in Central America to address the root cause of people trying to cross the border to enter the U.S. from Mexico.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nacha Cattan in Mexico City at ncattan@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reinie Booysen at rbooysen@bloomberg.net, Andrew Davis, Jon Herskovitz

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