‘We can always go back to tariffs’: Trump roasts ‘failing New York Times’ over Mexico deal report

The newspaper of record tried to rain on Donald Trump’s parade over his much-hyped border deal with Mexico. The president retaliated with a barrage of angry tweets, branding the New York Times as “truly The Enemy of the People!”

The Trump administration threatened Mexico with one of its favorite tools of foreign politics, the trade tariff, to force additional concessions from America’s southern neighbor over border security. The new deal was unveiled with much fanfare on Friday evening.

Next day the New York Times published a story that apparently attempted to pour cold water on Donald Trump and his deal, saying it “consists largely of actions that Mexico had already promised to take in prior discussions with the United States over the past several months.”

The Times did acknowledge deep down in the text that the Mexicans offered more than ever on some accounts and that part of the negotiations were about the US getting Mexico to act faster on previous promises with the threat of tariffs. Still Trump was angered by the piece and went to Twitter to vent.

“We have been trying to get some of these Border Actions for a long time, as have other administrations, but were not able to get them, or get them in full, until our signed agreement with Mexico,” he tweeted.

Trump added he was confident in Mexico’s willingness to deliver on what was promised and hinted that there was more in the deal than the public was informed about on Friday.

“Some things not mentioned in yesterday’s press release, one in particular, were agreed upon. That will be announced at the appropriate time,” he said.

Trump added that if Mexico fails to meet his expectations “for some unknown reason,” then “we can always go back to our previous, very profitable, position of Tariffs.”

“The Failing @nytimes, & ratings challenged @CNN, will do anything possible to see our Country fail! They are truly The Enemy of the People!” he concluded.

Previously, Trump announced in all caps on Twitter that Mexico “agreed to immediately begin buying large quantities of agricultural products from our great patriot farmers.”

If you like this story, share it with a friend!