President Trump’s Chief of Staff announced on Sunday that the President was “deadly serious” about imposing a 5% tariff on Mexican imports if the Mexican government continued to refuse to stop immigrants from crossing the US border.

Liberal Democrats were appalled at the President’s statements, but it appears Mexican President Lopez Obrador was listening as he later indicated his country would finally begin to tighten immigration controls in response to Trump’s threat of tariffs.

Democrats bristled at the thought of instituting tariffs on Meixcan goods and accused Trump, last week, of starting an unnecessary trade war. They also insisted, as before, that the crisis at the southern border is of Trump’s own making and that administration policies have forced border patrol officials to detain more immigrants and asylum seekers than ever before.

The White House, of course, fired back, noting that Democrats have dutifully ignored any request from the White House to approve the emergency funding necessary to care for the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers who have appeared at the border in recent months. The administration insists that if Congress will not help, it will pursue other avenues, including tariffs, to entice Mexico to assist.

The plan appears to be working.

The Associated Press reports that Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador “hinted his country could tighten migration controls to defuse U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Mexican goods,” and that he plans on engaging the White House in talks this week, which he hopes will be fruitful.   

The apparent concession from the Mexican government seems to be a clear win for the President’s immigration agenda. 

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