Mexican President Wants to Urge Trump to Open Borders

Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday he will send a letter to former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump explaining the need for open borders and that migrants are not responsible for drug trafficking in the US, News.Az reported, citing sources at Anadolu Agency.

Although Lopez Obrador has supported Trump for years, the US candidate’s anti-immigration stance and protectionist economic policies have led to tensions in bilateral relations between the North American neighbors.

With a shared border of over 1,200 miles, Trump’s campaign promises pose a risk to Mexico, both on immigration and economic fronts, prompting Lopez Obrador to reach out to Trump months before the election.

“I am going to send a letter to my friend Donald Trump, because I think he is not well informed about the immigration issue and the importance of maintaining economic integration between the United States, Mexico and Canada,” Lopez Obrador said during his morning briefing.

Trump has been accused of using the U.S.-Mexico border as a political weapon during the campaign, doubling down on his anti-immigration stance and promising to close the border and implement the largest deportation program in U.S. history if re-elected.

“In the case of migration, I will show him that migrants do not bring drugs to the United States, which is a disgusting lie, that migrants go to the United States to work honestly and that (the United States) was created and became a power thanks to migrants,” Lopez Obrador said.

During his first term, Trump was eager to use coercive measures to limit the flow of migrants within Mexican territory. The threat of tariffs on Mexican goods and other economic pressures led the Mexican government to submit to U.S. policies such as the Migration Protection Protocols, or Title 42, which gave the U.S. the authority to send migrants into Mexico.

In addition, Trump has pledged to keep manufacturing within U.S. borders, potentially hurting Mexican exports. Mexico has emerged as the U.S.’s top trading partner in recent years, resulting in more than $475 billion in exports since the beginning of 2024 and a trade surplus in Mexico’s favor.

Trump’s policy of narrow borders and protective economic measures could hamper Biden’s administration’s economic integration plans and the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA).

“The border would not remain closed for a month, and neither would American producers, manufacturers, investors and workers,” Lopez Obrador said.

News.Az