Democratic presidential candidates hammer Trump over deal with Mexico

Joe Perticone

June 9, 2019 8:56 PM

Democratic presidential candidates hammered Trump for touting his security deal with Mexico to avoid being slapped with heavy tariffs from the United States.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 1: Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke speaks during Day 2 of the California Democratic Party Convention at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Saturday, June 1, 2019. (Photo by Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)

Many components of the deal had actually been agreed to several months ago.
Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke said, "I think the president has completely overblown what he purports to have achieved."
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Democratic presidential candidates mocked and hammered President Donald Trump after reports revealed his highly touted border security deal with Mexico is based on already agreed upon policy changes.

Making the rounds during the Sunday morning political talk shows, candidates including former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called Trump's deal overblown and representative of larger problems with the administration.

"I think the president has completely overblown what he purports to have achieved. These are agreements that Mexico had already made and, in some case, months ago," O'Rourke said during an appearance on ABC's This Week."They might have accelerated the timetable, but by and large the president achieved nothing except to jeopardize the most important trading relationship that the United States of America has."

On CNN's "State of the Union," Sanders characterized Trump's dealings and repeated threats to impose heavy-handed tariffs on countries as a negotiating tool as a "trade policy based on tweets."

"What the world is tired of and what I am tired of is a president who consistently goes to war, verbal war, with our allies, whether it is Mexico, whether it is Canada," he said.

The deal, which Trump touted as a raving success, makes key reforms to the asylum process by allowing migrants to stay in Mexico while their cases are dealt with. The Mexican National Guard is also deploying troops throughout the country with emphasis on their southern border to crack down on migrants traveling north from Central America.

But the major components of the deal, in which Mexico is able to avoid progressive tariffs on goods starting at 5%, had already been agreed to months ago.

Still, the Trump administration is taking credit, while Republican allies of the president breathe a sigh of relief for not having to deal with more trade disputes and breaking with Trump.

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