Mexico's president said Saturday he thinks US officials are prepared to negotiate on President Donald Trump's threat to use tariffs as a tool to fight illegal migration across the border.
"There is willingness on the part of US government officials to establish dialogue and reach agreements and compromises," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told a news conference.
He did not say what gave him reason to believe this, though he noted that his government had contacted both US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser.
Trump's surprise announcement Thursday of new tariffs against a key US trading partner was widely criticized, including by US business groups, border-state politicians and some Republican lawmakers. It sent global markets slumping on Friday.
Trump appeared to have no regrets about the move, tweeting on Saturday: "When you are the 'Piggy Bank' Nation that foreign countries have been robbing and deceiving for years, the word TARIFF is a beautiful word indeed!"
"Others must treat the United States fairly and with respect - We are no longer the 'fools' of the past!" he wrote.
Lopez Obrador said a Mexican delegation led by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard will meet Wednesday in Washington with Pompeo to discuss the tariffs.
Trump said Thursday that tariffs starting at 5 percent and gradually increasing to 25 percent will be applied to all Mexican imports beginning June 10, unless Mexico does more to halt the flow of undocumented migrants.
"Mexico has taken advantage of the United States for decades," Trump said in a tweet.
Lopez Obrador said Friday that his country was "doing our job" to stem the flow of undocumented migrants - many of them fleeing poverty and violence in Central America - and he warned Trump that new tariffs would be a lose-lose game.
From January to April, Mexican authorities detained 51,607 migrants, a 17 percent increase from the same period in 2018, according to official figures.
On Saturday, Lopez Obrador voiced confidence on the upcoming talks.
