Global Geopolitical Series: Mexico slams Trump’s hint at linking NAFTA to immigration control

It is difficult to know, what has been going on with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) these days; while some say that a deal is just days or weeks away, others see no progress at all. Those, who believe that a final NAFTA deal is within grab, suffered a setback this week as President Trump suggested that he might link the agreement with Mexico to the country’s immigration control. President Trump suggested the idea in one of his morning tweets, where he wrote, “Mexico, whose laws on immigration are very tough, must stop people from going through Mexico and into the U.S. We may make this a condition of the new NAFTA Agreement. Our Country cannot accept what is happening! Also, we must get Wall funding fast.”

However, Mexico doesn’t seem to think that it would be a good idea. The country’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Luis Videgaray rebuffed the tweet with one of his own few hours later, where he wrote, “Mexico decides its immigration policy in a sovereign manner, and the migration cooperation with the US takes place in such a way that Mexico agrees. It would be unacceptable to condition the renegotiation of NAFTA to migratory actions outside this framework of cooperation.” Mr. Videgaray has been one of the key negotiators from the Mexican side on NAFTA.