CALEXICO: US
President Donald Trump visited the Mexican border on Friday to deliver a
message to would-be illegal immigrants and asylum seekers: don't bother coming.
"The system is full and we can't take you anymore... Our country is
full," he said at a meeting with border patrol officers and other
officials in Calexico, California. "So turn around, that's the way it
is." Shortly after, Trump visited a section of recently refurbished border
wall - something he wants extended across far more of the US-Mexico frontier -
and said illegal immigrants had previously been "pouring" in. The
California trip followed a retreat from earlier threats to close the border,
which had sparked fears of serious economic damage.

Nevertheless,
Trump sees his campaign against a "crisis" on the border as key to
his 2020 reelection bid, and his time in Calexico was meant to keep that
message in the headlines. Numbers of migrants and asylum seekers fleeing
violence in Central America have risen sharply, although there are enormous
political divides on whether this constitutes the "national
emergency" that Trump has declared. Around 200 protesters, accompanied by
a giant inflatable balloon depicting Trump as a baby, were waiting for the
president in Mexicali, the town on the Mexican side of the frontier.

Waving US and
Mexican flags, the protesters carried signs with messages such as "Stop
separating families" and "If you build the wall, my generation will
tear it down." On the US side, dozens of people lined the road that
Trump's motorcade took, demonstrating support for his policies. "Build the
wall," said one placard. Before leaving Washington earlier Friday, Trump
said that his previous threats to shut down the border had been successful in
persuading Mexican authorities to clamp down by stopping migrants on their
journey north. "Mexico, I have to say, has been very, very good... over
the last four days since I talked about shutting down the border," he
said.

'Stay calm'

Trump reiterated
that actually closing the border is not currently in the cards, but said he
will instead impose 25 percent tariffs on auto imports from Mexico if illegal
migration and drug smuggling are not controlled. Trump also said he could still
order the border closed later. "I may shut it down at some point but I'd
rather do tariffs," he said.

While sounding
tough, Trump's surprise shift this week to tariffs from the previous threat to
close the border is a major climb down. For days, the White House had been
signaling that he was serious about the threat and there was even speculation
that he might announce a closing during his Calexico trip. However, the idea
caused alarm among economists and Congress, including in Trump's Republican
Party. Mexico is the third-largest US trading partner and any hold-ups at
border crossings would have an immediate impact on trade.

The tariffs idea
is also causing confusion. On Thursday, Trump indicated there would be a
one-year deadline for Mexico to improve the situation before tariffs kicked in.
However, it was not clear if he meant that both for the drug smuggling and
migration, or whether he wanted the migration issue resolved immediately. On
Friday, the timing was no clearer. But he seemed to suggest that he might seek
to punish Mexico at any time he thought the southern neighbor was not doing
enough. "We're going to shut (the border) down if we have to. We going to
tariff the cars, Mexico, if we have to," he said.

It was also
unclear how such tariffs would fit into the countries' deeply intertwined
trading relationship, which is governed by NAFTA, a free trade accord also
including Canada that is due to be replaced by an updated version called the
USMCA. Leaders of the three countries signed the USMCA in November after more
than a year of negotiations. Trump said Friday that his tariffs would
"supersede USMCA. It's a great deal, and it's very good for Mexico. But
this will supersede USMCA." In Mexico City, President Andres Manuel Lopez
Obrador urged investors to "stay calm." "Our relationship with
the government of the United States is very good," he said. - AFP