US President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to deploy the military and close the southern US border if Mexico does not halt a caravan of Central America migrants heading north, raising the risk of huge disruptions to trade.
Stretching almost 3,200 kilometers, the US-Mexican border is one of the busiest in the world, processing thousands of commuters daily and much of the half a trillion dollars of annual trade between Mexico and the US.
“I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught – and if unable to do so I will call up the US Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Several thousand Honduran migrants moved this week through Guatemala, and some were trying to cross to Mexico on Thursday, local media said. Some hope to eventually enter the US to escape violence and poverty.
Mexico’s government said it had sought assistance from the United Nations refugee agency to deal with migrants claiming refugee status at Mexico’s southern border, one day ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Mexico City.
On Friday, Pompeo was set to meet officials including outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto, foreign minister Luis Videgaray and Marcelo Ebrard, the designated foreign minister of Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Lopez Obrador, who takes office in December, said in the northern city of Saltillo on Thursday that he believed “an agreement can be reached” on the migration issue.
“We’re going to take care of our relationship with the United States government,” he said. “It’s very important to have a relationship of friendship.”
