AUTO INDUSTRY/BORDER/IMMIGRATION/MEXICO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump walked back his threat to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border Thursday [4-4-19], letting Mexico off with a ‘one-year warning,’ POLITICO’s Caitlin Oprysko reports. ‘The only thing frankly better, but less drastic than closing the border, is to tariff the cars coming in,’ the president told reporters at the White House Thursday. Trump’s reason for weighing a border closure shifted over the past week; he started out saying it was to halt the flow of migrants, but ended up saying it was to halt the flow of drugs. Whatever the reason, Republicans and the business community were no fonder of the idea than Democrats, and they urged him not to go through with it. POLITICO’s Sabrina Rodriguez reports that Jesús Seade, Mexico’s undersecretary for North America, said at a press conference Thursday, ‘We are not concerned’ about the auto tariffs that Trump threatened.”
–Rebecca Rainey, “Trump backs down on closing the border,” Politico, April 5, 2019 10:00 am