WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing to threaten Mexico with tariffs to put pressure on the country to crack down on migrants seeking asylum in the United States, although some White House officials are trying to talk him out of the move, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
Trump earlier on Thursday told reporters he would soon make a "dramatic" statement about immigration at the U.S. southern border with Mexico where U.S. authorities are struggling to deal with a surge of migrants, many of them fleeing violence and drug gangs in Central American countries.
Citing three unnamed administration officials, the Post said the statement Trump teased and which he is planning on making on Friday would be about tariffs.
The White House provided no immediate comment on the Washington Post story.
"This is a big-league statement, but we are going to do something very dramatic on the border," Trump told reporters earlier in the day at the White House.
Trump, who vowed during his 2016 presidential campaign to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, has made a hard-line stance on immigration a cornerstone of his presidency.
However, he has struggled to win enough support from lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate to change immigration policy or to garner funds to build the wall.
White House aides arguing against the new tariff threat said the move would upset financial markets and possibly imperil passage of a U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal that is a top administration priority, the Post said, citing the officials.
A senior White House official, however, said there was broad support across the administration to pressure Mexico, according to the newspaper, and that an announcement was likely on Friday.