“We are obliged to have a good relationship with the U.S.” (Claudia Sheinbaum)

On Monday, January 27, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum declared her government is continuing to receive U.S. flights full of deportees and is accepting a small number from third countries.

“The relationship with the United States is special,” Sheinbaum told reporters. “We are obliged to have a good relationship.”

Administration officials trumpeted their success so far in pressing other nations to accept deportees. But leaders from Latin American countries point out that they have been allowing hundreds of such flights to land for many years.

The stakes vary from country to country. Colombia is a minor trade partner with the U.S. and not a major supplier of migrants.

The impasse between the United States and Colombia over deportation flights ended after a day of threats and counter-threats.

Petro early Sunday turned back two U.S. military flights carrying deportees as part of Trump’s plan to expel millions of migrants. Petro said he would receive deportees but only under “dignified conditions.”

In response, Trump said he was ordering a 25% tariff on all Colombian exports to the U.S., rising to 50% in a week if flights were not resumed. Trump also threatened a raft of visa restrictions and other financial punishment.

The two sides rushed into late-night negotiations. Late Sunday, they agreed to a series of conditions and said the flights would resume. The White House said Petro had accepted all of Trump’s terms. Colombia said it had received assurances of the “dignified conditions” that Petro had demanded.

For Trump, the episode gave him a chance to show the rest of Latin America the risks they face if they do not fall in line with his deportation plan.

The stakes are higher for Mexico, the United States’ largest trade partner and the largest single-source country for migrants who cross the U.S. border without legal authorization.

Sheinbaum has studiously avoided conflict with Trump. Unlike Petro or her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Sheinbaum has been matter-of-fact about Mexico’s willingness to cooperate with the U.S. on issues of migration.

Source: El Financiero

Monterrey Daily Post