United States and Mexico decide to avert a tariff war

By agreeing to take measures to stop illegal migrants entering the US, Mexico has averted a five per cent import tariff the US had threatened to impose on all Mexican goods if Mexico did not commit to do more to tighten its borders. So the tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the US against Mexico have been indefinitely suspended. Under the new deal, returned asylum seekers will spend long periods in Mexican cities such as Reynosa on the Texas border, where drug cartels frequently kidnap migrants.

In any case tariffs on the top US trade partner were seen as damaging the American economy. The plan would have left the United States fighting trade wars with two of its three largest trading partners and would have further unnerved financial markets already on edge about a global economic slowdown.

The US says migrants have overwhelmed its resources on the southern border. US border officers apprehended more than 1,32,000 people crossing from Mexico in May, the highest monthly level since 2006. Under the deal, Mexico will also increase its efforts to stop illegal migrants from Central America traveling through Mexico to the United States.