CENTRAL AMERICA/IMMIGRATION/TARIFFS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Declaring that ‘Guatemala has not been good,’ President Trump threatened on Tuesday [7-23-19] to retaliate against the country for not signing an immigration deal. He said his administration was considering imposing tariffs on Guatemalan exports or taxing money sent home by migrants. The deal, called a ‘safe third country’ agreement, would have required migrants who pass through Guatemala to seek asylum there, instead of continuing to the United States…The president’s early-morning Twitter post roiled Guatemala’s already turbulent politics less than three weeks ahead of the country’s Aug. 11 presidential election. Critics pointed to it as another reason to condemn the departing government of Jimmy Morales, which has courted the Trump administration…As the number of migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras reaching the southern United States border has soared, the Trump Administration has put pressure on Central American governments to stop them.”
–Elisabeth Malkin, “Trump Threatens Guatemala With Tariffs Over Migrants,” The New York Times online, July 23, 2019