President Donald Trump fired off a couple tweets in the last two days suggesting he would withdraw the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if Mexico doesn’t do more to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking into the U.S.
“Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U.S.,” Trump tweeted on Sunday morning. “They laugh at our dumb immigration laws. They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!”
On Monday morning, Trump tweeted that Mexico is making a “fortune” on NAFTA, and said the nation has strong border laws.
He said, “hopefully,” Mexico, “with all of the money they make from the U.S.,” would halt people from illegally entering this country, at least until Congress changes U.S. immigration laws.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative didn’t comment on the withdrawal threat.
After continually threatening to withdraw from NAFTA during the opening months of the pact’s renegotiation - which started in August - Trump had largely scaled back that rhetoric, as he has more recently taken a wait-and-see approach toward talks.