President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has agreed to stop immigrants from reaching the U.S. southern border through Mexico—signaling he had scored a major diplomatic and political win during a phone call with the Mexican leader—although Sheinbaum later clarified that her country’s position was not to close borders.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a House Republicans Conference meeting at the Hyatt Regency ... [+]
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday evening, Trump said he had a “wonderful conversation” with Sheinbaum where she agreed to “stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”
In a follow-up post, Trump wrote Mexico had agreed to stop people from reaching the U.S. southern border “effective immediately,” and added, “THIS WILL GO A LONG WAY TOWARD STOPPING THE ILLEGAL INVASION OF THE USA.”
The president-elect said he and Sheinbaum also discussed what more could be done to “stop the massive drug inflow into the United States,” something he had accused Mexico of enabling earlier this week while promising to slap 25% tariffs on all imports from the country.
Shortly after the call, Sheinbaum issued a statement on X saying she had an “excellent call” with Trump where she addressed Mexico’s strategy on the migration issue and informed him that “no caravans are arriving at the [U.S. southern] border because they are being attended to in Mexico.”
In a follow-up tweet after Trump’s posts, the Mexican president said she had explained to Trump her country’s “comprehensive strategy” for addressing the migration issue while “respecting human rights.”
Sheinbaum, however, noted that “Mexico's position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples.”
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