Washington: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday hit out at President Donald Trump over the immigration deal reached with Mexico in exchange for halting tariffs on the Central American country, saying “threats and tantrums are no way to negotiate foreign policy.”
Pelosi, in a statement, accused Trump of taking actions that “undermined America’s preeminent leadership role in the world” and slammed him for repeatedly threatening tariffs on Mexico, which she described as US’ ” close friend and neighbour to the south,” The Hill reported.
“The Trump Administration must also do much more to cooperate in a meaningful way with Mexico in cracking down on smuggling networks. [Its] failure to do so thus far is unconscionable and irresponsible. Threats and tantrums are no way to negotiate foreign policy,” she said in the statement.
In response, Trump fired back at Pelosi, calling her “nervous.”
“Nervous Nancy Pelosi & the Democrat House are getting nothing done. Perhaps they could lead the way with the USMCA, the spectacular & very popular new Trade Deal that replaces NAFTA, the worst Trade Deal in the history of the U.S.A. Great for our Farmers, Manufacturers & Unions!” he tweeted.
Asserting that everyone was “very excited” about the new deal, Trump thanked the Mexican leadership and American representatives for “working hard and long” to reach an agreement on immigration.
“I would like to thank the President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and his foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, together with all of the many representatives of both the United States and Mexico, for working so long and hard to get our agreement on immigration completed! Everyone very excited about the new deal with Mexico!” the US President said.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that Trump could go ahead and slap tariffs on Mexico if it did not comply with the immigration deal.
Trump had on Friday announced that his administration reached an agreement with Mexico over immigration, owing to which tariffs on the Central American country were “indefinitely suspended,” after days of gruelling negotiations between the two sides.
The US President had threatened to impose a five per cent tariff on all Mexican goods from June 10, which would increase by another five per cent every month and ultimately reach 25 per cent by October.
According to the deal, Mexico has agreed to strengthen its security presence at the southern border to stop the flow of Central American migrants from entering the US and boost intelligence sharing with Washington.
Mexico has also said that it would take stringent action against human and drug trafficking rings.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]