Refuting the claims made in a recent report by New York Times that Mexico had agreed to take border action months before Donald Trump announced tariff deal, the US President said on Sunday that much of what was in the recent deal signed on Friday was not accomplished by the previous administrations.
"Another false report in the Failing@nytimes. 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," Trump wrote on Twitter
"Additionally, and for many years not mentioned in yesterday press release, one in particular, were agreed upon. That will be announced at the appropriate time. There is now going to be great cooperation between Mexico & the USA, something that didn't exist for decades," he added.
According to a report by The New York Times, Mexico had already promised to take many of the actions agreed to in Friday's immigration deal with the US.
"Friday's joint declaration says Mexico agreed to the "deployment of its National Guard throughout Mexico, giving priority to its southern border," the report read.
"But the Mexican government had already pledged to do that in March during secret talks in Miami between Kirstjen Nielsen, then the secretary of homeland security, and Olga Sanchez, the Mexican secretary of the interior, the officials said," it added.
After days of the gruelling negotiations between the two sides, Trump on Friday had announced that his administration had reached an agreement with Mexico over immigration, adding that the tariffs on the Central American country have been "indefinitely suspended."
"I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico. The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the US on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended," Trump had tweeted.
The US President also said that Mexico agreed to take "strong measures" to deal with illegal immigration and the details of the deal would be released by the State Department shortly.
"Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measures to stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our Southern Border. This is being done to greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States. Details of the agreement will be released shortly by the State Department. Thank you!" another tweet from Trump read.
Trump had threatened to impose a five per cent tariff on all Mexican goods from June 10, which would increase by another five per cent every month and ultimately reach 25 per cent by October.
The Mexican government has been under intense pressure from the Trump administration to block thousands of migrants from gaining asylum in the US.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that there is an influx of drugs and criminals from the US' southern border with Mexico. He has used these claims to justify and press for the construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border.
( With inputs from ANI )