Trump Slams "Crazed & Dishonest" WaPo, Says Mexico Cracking Down On Immigrants "For First Time In Decades"

by Tyler Durden
Fri, 04/05/2019 - 09:29

President Trump is once again disputing reporting in the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post, claiming that its story about his decision to give Mexico one year to stop the flow of drugs and crimes into the US "purposely got it wrong."

In its story about Trump's decision to back away from a threat to immediately close the southern border, WaPo reported that Trump had praised the Mexican government for stepping up its efforts to curb illegal migration, despite the fact Mexican authorities "have not altered their enforcement policies."

Later in the afternoon, ahead of a trade meeting with Chinese officials, Trump praised Mexico for “doing a very good job in the last three or four days since we talked about closing the border,” even though Mexican authorities have said they have not altered their enforcement policies.

Trump disputed this, instead claiming that "Mexico, for the first time in decades, is meaningfully apprehending illegals at THEIR Southern Border, before the long march up to the U.S. This is great and the way it should be." And if Mexico backslides, Trump said he wouldn't hesitate to slap a 25% tariff on its auto imports as punishment.

These tariffs would supersede USMCA, the sweeping "Nafta 2.0" trade deal between the US, Mexico and Canada that has yet to be ratified by Congress. Similarly, Trump said he's looking into imposing a "penalty" for the $500 billion in illegal drugs smuggled into the US every year from Mexico.

Trump concluded the string of tweets by announcing that he was about to leave for the southern border to show off a section of the wall that is under construction.