Tag: Mexico

Trump steps up attacks on Mexico, tariff threat called ‘deadly serious’

by Jim MANNION WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump stepped up his attacks on Mexico over immigration on Sunday as a top aide warned that the US president is “deadly serious” about imposing tariffs on imports from the southern neighbor. The attacks came despite efforts at conciliation by Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who said Sunday that “the president of Mexico wants to keep being a friend of President Donald Trump; but above […]

Asia markets fall after Trump announces Mexico tariffs

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Asian stocks edged down Friday, despite modest gains on Wall Street overnight, as US President Donald Trump’s sudden announcement of tariffs on all Mexican imports saw Tokyo shares drop. Trump’s Twitter announcement of a five percent tariff on all goods from Mexico starting June 10 sent shares in automakers with plants in the North American country falling sharply. Trump said the duties would gradually increase until “illegal migrants” stop coming […]

Mexican president calls for dialogue with US on migration

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexican President Andres Lopez Obrador sent a letter Thursday to his American counterpart Donald Trump saying he does not want “confrontation” and calling for dialogue with the US on migration. The letter came after Trump announced tariffs on goods coming from Mexico that he said would remain in place until the flow of “illegal migrants” coming to the US is “remedied.” “I express to you that I don’t want confrontation… […]

21 killed in fiery Mexico road accident: officials

COATZACOALCOS, Mexico (AFP) — A semi truck and a bus carrying passengers back from a religious pilgrimage to a Catholic shrine crashed and burst into flames Wednesday in eastern Mexico, killing 21 people and injuring 30, officials said. “The forensics experts at the scene report 17 bodies of passengers who were traveling in the bus, plus two people who died in the semi truck,” said the head of the Civil Protection service for the state […]

Japanese man dies mid-flight with stomach full of cocaine

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — A Japanese man with 246 packets of cocaine in his stomach and intestines died mid-flight on his way from Bogota to Tokyo, authorities said Monday in northern Mexico, where the plane made an emergency landing. The 42-year-old man, identified only as Udo “N,” began having a seizure after traveling from the Colombian capital to Mexico City and catching a connecting flight to Japan, said the prosecutor’s office for the state […]

Mexico City bans disposable plastics

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexico City’s legislature voted Thursday to ban businesses from buying, selling or giving their customers disposable plastics, a major shift for a sprawling capital that is awash in them. The ban, set to come into force in December 2020 or January 2021, includes such articles as non-biodegradable plastic bags, straws, cutlery, cups and coffee capsules, the legislature said in a statement, calling them a “serious environmental problem.” It puts the […]

Mexican president’s new airport flies into turbulence

by Sofia MISELEM / Sylvain ESTIBAL Agence France-Presse MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) – For a groundbreaking ceremony, there was suspiciously little ground broken as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador symbolically inaugurated work on a new Mexico City airport — a pet project analysts warn could go badly wrong. Smiling and waving an orange flag, the anti-establishment leftist stood before a line of heavy construction equipment last Monday, declaring work was officially under way to turn […]

Unidentified gunmen kill 13, including child, at Mexican party

  MINATITLÁN, Mexico (AFP) — Thirteen people, including a child, were killed Friday when a group of unidentified gunmen opened fire on a party in the violence-wracked eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, officials said. The Secretariat of Public Safety said the gunmen arrived at a family reunion in Minatitlan asking to see someone named “El Becky’ — the owner of a local bar — before opening fire. It said seven men, five women, and a […]

Trump retreats from Mexico border closing, threatens car tariffs instead

by Sebastian Smith WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday retreated from his threat to close the US-Mexican border imminently, warning he will instead impose car tariffs if the major US trading partner does not do more to stop undocumented migrants and drug smugglers. “If Mexico doesn’t give the help, that’s OK, we’re going to tariff their cars,” Trump said at the White House. “I will do it. I don’t play games.” […]

Welcome to the tropical prison that some don’t want to leave

by Jose OSORIO Agence France-Presse MEXICO (AFP)- More than a century after Mexico established a prison on the Maria Islands — a Pacific archipelago eight hours by boat from the mainland — the country’s new government has decided to close it. But some prisoners didn’t want to leave the tropical jail. The inmates and guards on the islands — the Islas Marias, as they are known in Spanish — stayed put even when powerful Hurricane […]

Trump says ‘100%’ ready to shut down Mexico border

by Paul Handley and Sebastian Smith WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is “100 percent” prepared to close down the US-Mexico border, warning Congress and Central American governments to take action to stem the flow of migrants into the country. Delays were already rising at several key border crossings as Trump ratcheted up pressure on Democrats in Congress to toughen US laws against illegal immigrants, threatening to hurt the US […]

Trump threatens to close border with Mexico ‘next week’

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump on Friday again accused Mexico of failing to curb the flow of migrants illegally entering the US, and threatened to close the border “next week” unless something changes. Trump’s latest tweets ramp up the tension between the neighbors, putting a specific timeframe to his repeated threats to shut the border, one of the busiest in the world. “If Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming […]