Trump Says Guatemala Faces ‘Severe’ Punishment for Migrant Talks

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump accused Guatemala of backing out of a deal to stop migrants from claiming asylum in the U.S. and said he’s considering “very severe” consequences, which could include tariffs.

Trump said the Central American country “gave us their word” that it would sign a so-called safe-third-country agreement requiring migrants from points south, such as Honduras and El Salvador, to claim asylum in Guatemala instead of continuing to the U.S.

“And then all of a sudden they backed up, they said it was their Supreme Court,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday as he departed the White House for a fundraiser in West Virginia. “I don’t believe that. We’ll either do tariffs, or we’ll do something, we’re looking at something very severe with respect to Guatemala.”

Guatemala’s dollar bonds slumped the most in 14 months on Tuesday after Trump said in tweets that his administration is examining measures which could include tariffs, fees on remittances from Guatemalans in the U.S., or other sanctions. The president noted he had already ended much U.S. foreign aid to the country because of large numbers of Guatemalans who have migrated to the U.S. during his presidency.

“We used to send them $500 million for nothing, for nothing,” Trump said, an apparent reference to the combined aid for Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador before he cut it off. “They didn’t do anything except set up caravans. So Guatemala, we’re going to take care of, and it won’t even be tough.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Josh Wingrove in Washington at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Matthew Bristow

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