Trump taunts journalists with supposed one-page Mexico deal
President Trump teased a group of reporters on the South Lawn Tuesday by waving around what he said was a one-page deal with Mexico.
“This is one page,” Trump said, taking a folded piece of paper out of his blazer pocket and holding it up for cameras to see. “This is one page of a very long and very good agreement for both Mexico and the United States. Without the tariffs, we would have had nothing."
Trump refused to disclose details of the document, but continued to emphasize his supposed strong relationship with Mexico. The president then took a jab at the Democrats, saying, "We want the Democrats to help us as much as Mexico, and then we'll have absolutely no problem at the border.”
The president has been fighting back against skepticism about the trade and immigration deal announced Friday that allowed Trump to back off from his threat to impose escalating tariffs on Mexico. Trump claimed victory and said he had extracted significant concessions that would slow the number of migrants crossing the border and would force Mexico to buy large amounts of U.S. agricultural products.
But Mexican officials have pushed back against some of Trump's claims, and news reports have questioned whether there was much new at all in the deal.
Trump, however, has said the full deal has not been publicly announced, tweeting earlier Tuesday, "Biggest part of deal with Mexico has not yet been revealed!"
When journalists pressed for more details on the piece of paper in Trump's pocket, he stated that the document “goes into effect when I want it to.”
A close-up photograph of the paper Trump held up was later tweeted by a Washington Post photographer and shows that Trump was referring to actions that Mexico could be forced to take 45 days after the two countries announced a joint declaration on Friday night.
The paper appeared to be a letter signed by U.S. and Mexican officials. Only the last paragraph is visible in which the U.S. could determine “at its discretion” whether Mexico had “sufficiently achieved results in addressing the flow of migrants to the southern border.” Mexico would get an additional 45 days to take all necessary steps to bring its commitments under the agreement into force, the letter said.
