Like Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has accepted the hard truth that the man in the White House isn’t asleep most of the day, waking only to enjoy a cone of Graeter’s chocolate chip ice cream.
Three days ago, President Donald Trump vowed a 25-percent tariff on Mexico if it didn’t help stop the drug trade and illegal-alien invasion at the southwest border. Today, Sheinbaum cracked.
She surrendered on X, writing that 10,000 Mexican soldiers would head to the border to avoid the tariff. That tariff is now on hold for 30 days.
In a showdown last week, Petro cried uncle when he tried to refuse the return of deported Colombian illegal aliens.
Tariff Threat, Sheinbaum Gives In
The beginning of the end of Sheinbaum’s tough-girl act was Trump’s threat to impose import tariffs of 25 percent on Mexico and Canada and 10 percent on China.
Trump’s goal is not to start a trade war. He claims he is trying to stop those countries from sending drugs and illegal aliens into the United States.
Those nations “have allowed an unprecedented invasion of illegal fentanyl that is killing American citizens, and also illegal immigrants into our country,” White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt said:
The amount of fentanyl that has been seized at the southern border in the last few years alone has the potential to kill tens of millions of Americans. And so the president is intent on doing this.
The Asiatic invasion aside, like Colombia’s Petro, Sheinbaum was breathing threats about retaliating just yesterday. Then she came to her senses.
The illegal-alien invasion from hostile China is particularly worrisome. Since fiscal 2022, border agents at the northern and southwest border have encountered more than 170,000 Chinese illegals. They are part of what 10 former FBI officials called a “soft invasion” and “strategic penetration” of the United States. “designed to gain internal access to a country that cannot be invaded militarily in order to inflict catastrophic damage if and when enemies deem it necessary.”
“We had a good conversation with President Trump with great respect for our relationship and sovereignty; we reached a series of agreements,” she wrote on X:
1. Mexico will immediately reinforce the northern border with 10,000 members of the National Guard to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, particularly fentanyl.
2. The United States is committed to working to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico.
3. Our teams will begin working today on two fronts: security and trade.
4. They are pausing tariffs for one month from now.
“I just spoke with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico,” Trump wrote on Truth Social:
It was a very friendly conversation wherein she agreed to immediately supply 10,000 Mexican Soldiers on the Border separating Mexico and the United States. These soldiers will be specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl, and illegal migrants into our Country.
Trump wrote that a team headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick would continue negotiations with Mexico.
“For three days a lot of the far left has actively rooted against America and argued we’d get nothing out of President Trump’s demands that Mexico secure its country,” Vice President JD Vance wrote over a repost of Trump’s victory lap on Truth Social. “Well, how do you like them apples?”
Petro’s Threats
Leftist Colombian strongman Petro thought he could cross Trump, too.
When two planes loaded with deported Colombian illegals attempted to land and repatriate the criminals, Petro turned them away.
Trump was enjoying a round of golf at his Doral country club when he got the news. It was his third hole.
“Petro’s denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States, so I have directed my Administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures,” he wrote on Truth Social.
There followed vows of a 25-percent tariff, a travel ban, visa revocations of Colombian officials, and visa sanctions on “all Party Members, Family Members, and Supporters of the Colombian Government.”
“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump wrote. “We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!”
Petro fumed and fussed and blustered with a deranged commentary about Abraham Lincoln and “black and white farm boys.” He even suggested that Trump was trying to remove him from power.
“Overthrow me, Mr. President, and the Americas and humanity will respond,” he wrote.
As well, he warned, “you will never rule us. You’re opposed to the warrior who rode our lands, shouting freedom, whose name is (Simon) Bolívar.… I am informed that you impose a 50% tariff on the fruits of our human labor to enter the United States, and I do the same.”
Petro Taps Out
Soon thereafter, Petro threw in the towel. That might have been because he did not want to lose $400 million in U.S. foreign aid.
“Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States,” the White House announced.
Trump was on his eighth hole.
“We have overcome the impasse with the United States government,” Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said. “We will continue to receive Colombians who return as deportees, guaranteeing them decent conditions as citizens subject to rights.”
Trump: 2; Latin Americans: 0.
