WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump backed off his threat to close the border with Mexico, one day before he travels to California to highlight what he is calling an immigration crisis.
"We're going to give them a one-year warning," Trump said Thursday, referring to Mexico.
Trump said that if the flow of drugs and immigrants is not halted, he would then impose new tariffs on Mexican goods, targeting automobiles partly manufactured in Mexico.
"If the drugs don't stop _ Mexico can stop 'em if they want _ we're going to tariff the cars. And if that doesn't work, we're going to close the border," Trump said.
Trump insisted in his remarks that his threats would be effective because the Mexican government could be certain he would follow through.
"I will do it; I don't play games," Trump said.
But the newest threats are a reversal from Trump's repeated comments in recent days that he planned to close the border. Top advisers insisted over the weekend that he was not bluffing.
But since then, leading Republicans in Congress as well as many others inside and outside the administration have warned that closing the border, which would be impossible to do completely, would cost the American economy billions of dollars and likely shut down factories that employ U.S. workers.
