Mexico's Ebrard eyes common ground in U.S. talks on immigration, tariffs

[June 04, 2019]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard on Tuesday said he expects to find common ground with U.S. officials in immigration and tariffs talks amid a diplomatic push in Washington this week to address waves of Central American migrants crossing Mexico to reach the United States.

"We're going to find common ground, I think," Ebrard told a news conference ahead of the second day of discussions that he said are expected to continue through Wednesday. "We are ready" for negotiations, he added.

Ebrard said talks so far have been "productive."

The large flows of migrants, many asylum seekers, have long prompted U.S. President Donald Trump's ire and last week prompted Trump to threaten a blanket tariff on Mexican imports.

The move was aimed at pressuring Mexico to stop the asylum seekers, but it also spooked global markets and put a joint trade pact between the two countries and Canada further in doubt.

On Monday, Mexican officials vowed to reject a U.S. idea to take in all Central American asylum seekers if it was raised at talks this week with the Trump administration.

(Reporting by Jason Lange and Makini Brice; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)

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