Feb 3, 2025 - Statements by President Trump on Mexico, Canada

"I just spoke with President Claudia #Sheinbaum of #Mexico. It was a very friendly conversation wherein she agreed to immediately supply 10,000 Mexican #Soldiers on the Border separating Mexico and the United States. These soldiers will be specifically designated to stop the flow of #fentanyl, and illegal #migrants into our Country. We further agreed to immediately pause the anticipated tariffs for a one month period during which we will have negotiations headed by Secretary of State Marco #Rubio, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and high-level Representatives of Mexico. I look forward to participating in those negotiations, with President Sheinbaum, as we attempt to achieve a “deal” between our two Countries."

"#Canada doesn’t even allow U.S. Banks to open or do business there. What’s that all about? Many such things, but it’s also a DRUG WAR, and hundreds of thousands of people have died in the U.S. from drugs pouring through the Borders of Mexico and Canada. Just spoke to Justin #Trudeau. Will be speaking to him again at 3:00 P.M."

Trump announces talks with Canada, Mexico following decision to impose tariffs

President #Trump said he will conduct talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin #Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia #Sheinbaum on February 3. "I've spoken with people from Canada, I've spoken with people from Mexico, and I've spoken to a lot of other people too. I'm speaking with prime minister Trudeau tomorrow morning, and I'm also speaking with Mexico tomorrow morning. I don't expect anything very dramatic, we put tariffs on. They owe us a lot of money, and I'm sure they're going to pay," he told reporters at the Joint Base Andrews.
On Saturday, President Trump signed an executive order, applying tariffs against goods from Canada, China and Mexico. The document states that duties of 25% are imposed against imports from Mexico and Canada (10% on Canadian energy products). Additional tariffs of 10% are imposed against Chinese goods. According to Trump, this effort was made because of the "extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl" that kill US citizens.

In response, the #Canadian authorities imposed retaliatory duties of 25% on American goods totaling 155 bln Canadian dollars ($106.5 bln). Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Ottawa is also considering non-tariff retaliatory measures against the United States concerning critical minerals and energy.

#Mexico's president said her country will respond to the imposition of duties by the US with tariffs and non-tariff measures, but remains open to dialogue and suggested Trump create a working group to resolve the situation.

President Trump officially announces 25% tariffs on both #Canada and #Mexico.

These tariffs are set to go into effect on February 1st and "may or may not rise with time."

Tom Homan: Trump will immediately bring back ICE worksite raids
Incoming #Border Czar Thomas #Homan says President-elect Donald #Trump will restore Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (#ICE) authority to protect American workers by conducting worksite enforcement raids and reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” border policy.

BREITBART - “We haven’t really worked out the plan for worksite enforcement,” Homan told the Washington Post about allowing ICE agents to conduct such immigration enforcement. “We know that employers are going to be upset.”

In February 2021, Biden stripped ICE of its ability to conduct worksite enforcement raids. At the time, an agency official told the Post that the administration had “abolished ICE without abolishing ICE.” In addition to protecting American workers from illegal employment, Homan said the incoming Trump administration will reinstate the Remain in #Mexico policy at the southern border, which Biden ended on his first day in office. Remain in Mexico was created and imposed by the first Trump administration, helping to drastically cut asylum fraud by ensuring migrants are not released into the U.S. interior while awaiting their immigration hearings.

Homan said the next administration will similarly construct soft-sided facilities that will hold migrant adults with the children they arrive at the border with. “We need to show the American people we can do this and not be inhumane about it,” Homan told the Post. “We can’t lose the faith of the American people.”

The gang members in Ecuador taking over a TV station while launching other attacks is a case of "violent lobbying," a term coined by Benjamin Lessing

🔶️ It's an extreme example of gangsters in LatAm using this insurgent-like tactic but it's not the first.

⬛️ Here are other cases:

🔶️ Colombian capo Pablo Escobar unleashed massive violence against the government and civilians to get his way and exert pressure. His most infamous act was using a hitman to down Avianca Flight 203 in 1989. It killed all 107 occupants. As this included Americans, US courts acted.

🔶️ In 2006, Brazil's PCC gang - or First Commando of the Capital - rose up in prisons in São Paolo and carried out almost 300 attacks, burning banks,busses, and police stations and killing dozens of officers. The attack was likely in response to the prison transfer of its leaders.

🔶️ In 2015 in Jalisco, Mexico, gunmen from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel burned cars and trucks in what are called narco bloqueos and attacked police, soldiers. It was in response to an attempt to arrest boss El Mencho. They shot down an army helicopter, probably with a 50 cal.

🔶️ In 2019, gunmen for the Sinaloa Cartel rose up in Culiacán, Mexico, following the arrest of Ovidio, son of El Chapo. They took hostages, fought with soldiers and blockaded streets. The Mexican government finally let Ovidio go - although the Mexican army re-arrested him in 2023.

🔶️ It is "violent lobbying" because the gangsters are using bloodshed and terror to exert pressure. They want the government to back off or release a suspect or stop raiding their dope.

🔶️ It makes the government pay a cost to go after them - and governments will often back down.