Relief at US-Mexico border after tariff climbdown

Businesses and workers at the US-Mexico border in California expressed relief Saturday over the scrapping of planned tariffs which had threatened to deal a devastating blow to a region built on cross-frontier trade.

Otay Mesa, California's busiest border crossing for commercial trucks, had been braced for the worst after US President Donald Trump vowed to impose levies on Mexican imports over illegal immigration.

Senior officials announced an agreement Friday night to avert the tariffs after three days of intense negotiations -- to the delight of border workers.

"If tariffs had gone up, all the rates would go up," said Rafael Toledo, a 61-year-old towing company employee, on his commute from Mexico early Saturday.

"But I'm not worried now because everything was sorted out yesterday, no? I don't think there will be a problem now. Tariffs are bad for the US and bad for Mexico."
"When the deal was announced they all disappeared." He added: "People were rushing goods across the border. I've seen crates and crates of produce piled up, now they don't know what to do with it all."
"But as a consumer it would have been very bad. It's crazy to put extra prices on things that are already so expensive."