Donald Trump is not even president yet, but he’s already setting the agenda, both domestically and internationally.
Case in point: Trump’s tariff threats. The president-elect is using them as diplomatic tools to accomplish foreign policy objectives.
Canada and Mexico, our two North American land neighbors, were put on notice by Trump on Nov. 25.
“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” he declared on Truth Social.
That got their attention!
I recently traveled to Mexico for a few days. I was there on Nov. 26 and saw a couple of newspapers with the Trump threat as headlines.
Tariff threats are a big deal to Canada and Mexico. All three of our countries are members of the USMCA trade pact.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently flew down to Florida to meet with Trump in-person at Mar-a-Lago.
That was a smart move. Personal meetings with The Donald, especially if you butter him up, can pay off.
As for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, she published an open letter to “Esteemed President-elect Donald Trump” on Nov. 26.
President Sheinbaum asserts U.S. border encounters dropped 75% from December of 2023 to November of 2024. That was largely the result of a deal struck between the Biden administration and the previous Mexican president, Lopez Obrador (AMLO). This is not a conspiracy theory, AMLO admitted to it in a 60 Minutes interview.
The goal of that deal was to make the Biden administration look better. In the end, though, it didn’t win the election for Democrats.
Sheinbaum asserts half of aliens are legally crossing under the aegis of the CBP One app. Hopefully Trump will scrap that program, as it’s just another scheme to get illegals into the country under cover of legality.
Sheinbaum complained in the letter about American weapons being smuggled into Mexico. Tightening the border could help reduce that problem.
At some point, Claudia Sheinbaum and Donald Trump spoke by phone, but their reports didn’t completely coincide.
On Nov. 27 at 3:36 p.m., Sheinbaum tweeted, “I had an excellent conversation with President Donald Trump…” (She didn’t even bother calling him President-elect).
On Nov. 27 at 6:13 p.m., Trump wrote this on Truth Social: “Just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border. We also talked about what can be done to stop the massive drug inflow into the United States, and also, U.S. consumption of these drugs. It was a very productive conversation!”
Ten minutes later, Trump posted this: “Mexico will stop people from going to our Southern Border, effective immediately. THIS WILL GO A LONG WAY TOWARD STOPPING THE ILLEGAL INVASION OF THE USA. Thank you!!!”
Not so fast there, Donald.
At 7:34 p.m. President Sheinbaum tweeted, “We reiterate that the position of Mexico is not to close borders but to set up bridges between governments and between peoples.”
Well, we still have about 50 days to go until Trump actually takes over. A lot could happen between now and January 20.
For example, there could still be a desperate rush for the border.
Border expert Auden Cabello estimates there are about a million non-Mexican migrants bottlenecked in Mexico. What if they decide to go for it?
When I was in Mexico last month, I spoke to a beggar at a stoplight. I asked where he was from. “Managua, Nicaragua!” he replied.
Will he stay in that Mexican metro or go for our border before January 20?
Donald Trump was able to secure Mexico’s cooperation during his first term. Hopefully he can do so again.
The bottom line is we need to get control of our borders. It would be nice to have Mexico’s support, but it needs to be done – and can be done – with or without them.
President-elect Trump probably has some more tricks up his sleeve.