- President Donald Trump on Tuesday boasted to reporters that details of his new Mexico deal were “secret” — but he was also holding notes describing how it worked.
- Speaking outside the White House, Trump repeatedly got out a white A4 sheet with text related to Friday’s talks with Mexico.
- Zoomed-in photographs taken by news agencies captured several sections of text revealing some terms of the deal.
- One section said Mexico had “within 45 days” to slow the flow of migrants to the US. That information isn’t secret, as the step was announced by Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard on Monday.
- The photos also show text implying Mexico should become a “safe third country” for people claiming asylum in the US while US courts process their claims. Mexico has not yet publicly agreed to this.
President Donald Trump was photographed Tuesday holding a piece of paper clearly showing details of a deal with Mexico over immigration, despite claiming the deal itself was “secret.”
Trump brandished a folded sheet of white A4 paper while giving a statement outside the White House, which was captured by multiple photographers.
Text on the paper can clearly be made out, and it appears to show details of Trump’s plans, including the words “The Government of Mexico will take all necessary steps under domestic law to bring the agreement into force with a view to ensuring that the agreement will enter into force within 45 days.”
According to Reuters, the president referred to the deal as “secret.”
On Monday, Mexico’s foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, told a press conference the US had given Mexico 45 days to slow the flow of US-bound migrants passing through Mexico from South America and Central America.
Text on the paper also referred to the “burden-sharing” of migrants.
This revolves around Mexico becoming a “safe third country” for Central American migrants destined for the US, a detail also previously reported on by US and Mexican media outlets.
On Monday, Ebrard said Mexico had rejected any burden-sharing agreement.
President Trump waves piece of paper: “That’s the agreement that everybody says I don’t have.” pic.twitter.com/8ownEaklrP
— The Hill (@thehill) Hunyo 11, 2019
“Here’s the agreement,” Trump told reporters Tuesday while brandishing the paper. “It’s a very simple agreement. This is one page. This is one page of a very long and very good agreement for both Mexico and the United States.”
The New York Times reported on Saturday that Trump had framed parts of his Mexico deal as new and revelatory despite their having already been agreed to months ago.
Mexico’s promise that its National Guard would be sent to shore up its southern border was actually agreed to in March, The Times wrote, and plans for some asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while US courts made their decisions was tentatively agreed to in December.
Trump on Sunday tweeted that the story was “shockingly false and untrue” and that The Times “knew it was Fake News before it went out.”
The Times is standing by its story.
The deal reversed threats to impose 5% tariffs on all US imports from Mexico, which Trump said would be punishment for an influx of migrants entering the US from Mexico.
Those tariffs would have reached 25% in October if Mexico did not try to slow the flow of migrants.
As reported by Business Insider