Donald Trump stepped up his attacks on Mexico over immigration Sunday as a top aide warned that the US president is "deadly serious" about slapping tariffs on imports from the southern neighbour.
The attacks came despite efforts at conciliation by Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who said Saturday that US officials were willing to "reach agreements and compromises."
Unless Mexico stops the "invasion," he warned, he would use tariffs to bring back "companies and jobs that have been foolishly allowed to move South of the Border."
"I fully expect these tariffs to go into at least a five per cent level on June 10," he said on "Fox News Sunday."
"At any given moment we have 100,000 moving through Mexico. There are transportation choke points. There are natural choke points," McAleenan said on CNN's "State of the Union."