Trump announced this morning that Guatemala has chose to break some sort of deal with the United States regarding immigration. In response, Trump is threatening tariffs:
Guatemala, which has been forming Caravans and sending large numbers of people, some with criminal records, to the United States, has decided to break the deal they had with us on signing a necessary Safe Third Agreement. We were ready to go. Now we are looking at the “BAN,”….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2019
….Tariffs, Remittance Fees, or all of the above. Guatemala has not been good. Big U.S. taxpayer dollars going to them was cut off by me 9 months ago.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2019
This Safe Third Country Agreement would have required “asylum seekers who transit through Guatemala to claim asylum in that country instead of the U.S.”
The deal was set to be signed, but the high court in Guatemala ruled that their congress must first approve the deal, effectively blocking President Morales from signing it. As Hotair pointed out last week, their congress is in a lame duck period and may not want to take up such a deal.
Now it appears that Guatemala has decided not to move forward with the deal, and thus we have Trump’s new threats of a “ban”, tariffs and remittance fees.