MEXICO CITY: Mexico's president and the top U.S. business lobbying group called on President Donald Trump to back down from a threat to impose punitive tariffs on Mexican imports, in a dispute over migration that could shock Mexico's economy.
He predicted that Trump, who is also engaged in a worsening trade war with China, would rectify his demand."I tell all Mexicans to have faith, we will overcome this attitude of the U.S. government, they will make rectifications because the Mexican people don't deserve to be treated in the way being attempted," Lopez Obrador told reporters.
Other industry groups also criticized Trump's threat, saying it would cost American businesses, farmers and consumers who have already been bearing the brunt of the separate, lingering U.S. trade dispute with China. Such levies would deliver a heavy blow to Mexico's economy, which is underpinned by exports to the United States of goods from avocados and tequila to televisions and cars made by companies such as Ford Motor Co and Nissan.
Trump vowed frequently during his 2016 election campaign to make Mexico pay for construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border to curb illegal immigration but successive Mexican governments have firmly rejected that idea.