Mexican politician expertly uses Trump’s border argument against him in one tweet

Donald Trump has been ramping up the pressure on Mexico to crack down on immigration, threatening tariffs on Mexican goods if they fail to curb the number of immigrants and asylum seekers entering the US.

It would be an act of enormous economic self-harm, given how reliant the US is upon Mexican goods and that Trump is already fighting a deepening trade war with China.

But that hasn’t stopped the US president.

On Monday evening, around the time he was sitting down to a state banquet with the royal family, Mr Trump tweeted:

But Manuel Clouthier Carrillo, former deputy of Mexico's Congress, was quick to use Mr Trump’s own unreasonable logic against him.

As Mr Clouthier Carrillo's tweet highlights, America is culpable. US consumers buy drugs that fuel violence and conflict in the southern continent, yet this is rarely taken into account when discussing immigration.

His statement also shows the issue is incredibly complex - and to reduce it to a simple matter of willpower is laughable.

Tensions in Venezuela have seen an increase in people trying to gain access to the United States, as well as asylum-seekers from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

The journey itself, which children are known to sometimes make without their parents, is incredibly dangerous. It has been made even more so by Trump's rhetoric (like describing Mexicans as "rapists", "drug dealers" and "criminals"), with violent militias operating along the border states.

A trade war with its neighbour would be disastrous for the US, which relies on Mexico for everything from avocados and denim jeans to car manufacturing parts.

Understandably Mexico are also keen to avoid such a fate.

In recent weeks, Mexican authorities have been cracking down on undocumented migrants near the country's southern border, sowing fear among thousands of Central Americans fleeing crises in their home countries.

But the intractable Donald Trump has not specified what level of reduction in illegal immigration will be enough to satisfy him.

Twitter users were keen to applaud Mr Clouthier Carrillo.

A series of copycat tweets also started doing the rounds.

Read more: Trump laughs after supporter suggests migrants crossing Mexico border should be ‘shot’