US should no longer need tariff threat with Mexico: Trump

US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that it would likely not be "necessary" to threaten Mexico with tariffs again because that country's government was now helping to contain the flow of migrants to the country.

In a series of tweets, Trump said he was confident that the deal with Mexico would be successful after speaking by telephone on Saturday with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Efe news reported.

"For many years, Mexico was not being cooperative on the Border in things we had, or didn't have, and now I have full confidence, especially after speaking to their President yesterday, that they will be very cooperative and want to get the job properly done," Trump said.

Trump said he expected that there was "now going to be great cooperation between Mexico & the USA, something that didn't exist for decades."

"However, if for some unknown reason there is not, we can always go back to our previous, very profitable, position of Tariffs - But I don't believe that will be necessary," the US leader said.

Trump responded to a report in The New York Times saying that the immigration agreement with Mexico included measures that the Lopez Obrador administration had committed to taking months ago.

The daily said the upcoming deployment of the Mexican National Guard to the southern border had been agreed to in secret talks held in Miami by former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Mexican Government Secretary Olga Sanchez in March.

Trump said the story was not true and took a shot at the media, saying that "the Failing @nytimes, & ratings challenged @CNN, will do anything possible to see our Country fail! They are truly The Enemy of the People!"

"We have been trying to get some of these Border Actions for a long time, as have other administrations, but were not able to get them, or get them in full, until our signed agreement with Mexico," Trump said.

The US President criticised the media for not giving him "credit" for his accomplishments.

"If President Obama made the deals that I have made, both at the Border and for the Economy, the Corrupt Media would be hailing them as Incredible, & a National Holiday would be immediately declared. With me, despite our record setting Economy and all that I have done, no credit!" Trump tweeted.

While Trump has hailed the deal as a victory, Mexican officials did not sign a safe third country agreement with Washington that would have allowed the US authorities to legally reject asylum requests from migrants unless they first asked for asylum in Mexico.

The pact, however, will allow the Trump administration to expand a program that requires migrants seeking asylum to wait in Mexico while their cases are processed, a situation that can last for months or years.

--IANS

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