
Despite efforts by security forces south of the border to stop a migrant caravan, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard says no agreement was reached on tariffs during Wednesday's White House meeting with Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Ebrard says both countries will continue talks on Thursday and try to stave off President Donald Trump's threatened tariffs on all Mexican goods flowing into the United States.

Trump, who is in Europe to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, tweeted: 'Immigration discussions at the White House with representatives of Mexico have ended for the day. Progress is being made, but not nearly enough!

'Border arrests for May are at 133,000 because of Mexico & the Democrats in Congress refusing to budge on immigration reform.

'Further talks with Mexico will resume tomorrow with the understanding that, if no agreement is reached, Tariffs at the 5% level will begin on Monday, with monthly increases as per schedule.

'The higher the Tariffs go, the higher the number of companies that will move back to the USA!'

US President Donald Trump has been ramping up pressure on Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador by threatening to impose steep tariffs if Mexico doesn't curtail the influx of migrants arriving at the southern border

Ebrard told reporters at the Mexican embassy that 'several points were made that require a more detailed discussion'.

He said the US is proposing short-term, punitive measures, while Mexico wants more long-term decisions. He is not detailing the positions of either country.

Ebrard is the head of a Mexican delegation that has been lobbying intensely this week in Washington.

Top officials from the Mexican government, private sector and members of the country's congress make up the largest Mexican delegation dispatched to Washington since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in December.

The multifaceted effort, which started just hours after Trump last week announced his intention to impose a five percent tariff on Mexico, aims to get a compromise that avoids such a duty before a Monday deadline.

President Trump on Wednesday tweeted that 'not nearly enough' progress has been made in the talks with the Mexican government over immigration

The first critical moment came Wednesday, when Ebrard talked to Pompeo during a meeting presided over by Pence at the White House.

Trump himself was out of town for a state visit to Britain and D-Day commemorations, though he has fired Twitter shots from across the sea to repeat his vow to impose tariffs unless Mexico takes tougher action to halt migration across its territory to the United States.

'As a sign of good faith, Mexico should immediately stop the flow of people and drugs through their country and to our Southern Border. They can do it if they want!' he tweeted Monday.

A Mexican official familiar with the bilateral relationship said the lobbying effort includes meetings with members of Congress, think tanks, businessmen and current and former US governors.

A caravan of 1,000 migrants walking through southern Mexico clashed with 200 members of law enforcement dispatched by the Mexican government to stop the group as they trekked north toward the United States on Wednesday

Migrants resisting law enforcement were wrestled to the ground by agents directing the crowd onto government vehicles

A man injured during a confrontation is seen being helped off of the highway by fellow asylum seekers

The caravan included hundreds of women and children mainly from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. A family with two young children is seen surrounded by several agents sent to intercept the group outside the city of Tapachula

The confrontation took place as temperatures in the area reached a sweltering 91 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celcius)

Several migrants fainted or collapsed from the sweltering heat and at least one man received medical attention

The vast majority of the migrants complied with law enforcement directives and boarded the government vehicles

The special unit of 200 military police, immigration agents and federal officers is seen awaiting the arrival of the caravan

The caravan departed from Ciudad Hidalgo at the Mexico-Guatemala border early Wednesday and was bound for Tapachula

'The goal is to gain time and try to deactivate the threat,' said the official, who agreed to discuss the effort only if not quoted by name.

The official said Mexico was in a 'Catch 22' situation because while it has stepped up immigration enforcement, it cannot brag publicly about it because of domestic political tensions.

'There is a fine line between what we can say and what we cannot,' the official said.

'The U.S. knows where we are and keeps pushing. We are between a rock and a hard place.'

The issue has allied Mexico's government with influential sectors in the U.S. that say the tariffs would damage both nations, whose economies are intertwined.

Most of Mexico's exports go to the U.S., and Mexico is the United States' top trading partner.

Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, visited the Mexican Embassy on Tuesday and was expected to meet with top Mexican businessmen this week.

The chamber said recently it was considering legal action to block the tariffs from going into effect.

'These tariffs will be paid by American families and businesses without doing a thing to solve the very real problems at the border,' said Neil Bradley, the chamber's executive vice president.

The Mexican mission also includes Sen. Hector Vasconcelos and Congressman Mario Delgado, and the president of one of Mexico's top business associations, Carlos Salazar Lomelín, former head of Coca Cola FEMSA, one of the country's largest companies.

Trump announced his intentions to impose tariffs on Mexico on May 30, the same day López Obrador announced his government was beginning the process of ratifying the new North American trade agreement that had been demanded by Trump.

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement and the biggest concerns about ratification had come from congressional Democrats in the U.S. who have questioned how Mexico would enforce labor reforms that strengthen unions.

But now Trump's Republican allies also warn that tariffs on Mexican imports would jeopardize the deal.

Jorge Guajardo, senior director of the McLarty Associates consulting firm, said Mexico's swift response signals that it takes the situation seriously, but the mission's success will depend mostly on Trump's mood.

'There is nothing Mexico or other country can do,' said Guajardo, who previously was Mexican ambassador to China.

Ebrard, meanwhile, has spent an unusually extended time in Washington, having arrived over the weekend, meeting with U.S. Cabinet officials and holding news conferences to warn that tariffs would hurt both countries.

'So, what are we doing? Diplomacy. What is Mexico a specialist in? Diplomacy with the United States. Two hundred years,' Ebrard said with a wide smile.

Earlier on Wednesday, chaos erupted along a highway in southern Mexico when a caravan with some 1,000 Central American migrants on their way north was intercepted by a special law enforcement unit as the Mexican government escalates efforts to block asylum seekers from reaching the U.S. in response to Trump's tariff threats.

The group of migrants from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, including many women and children, departed from Ciudad Hidalgo at the Mexico-Guatemala border early Wednesday morning and was bound for Tapachula, the principal city in the region.

The special unit of 200 military police, immigration agents and federal officers formed a blockade about 11 miles outside of Tapachula near the town of Metapa to confront the caravan, which was accompanied by state and local police.

While the vast majority of the migrants complied with law enforcement directives and boarded buses and immigration agency vehicles, some resisted and were wrestled to the ground by unarmed agents.

Parents were seen sitting on the pavement holding their children as the wept and begged authorities not to take them. Others jumped wire fences and ran into the thick forest beside the highway.

The confrontation took place as temperatures in the region reached 91 degrees Fahrenheit (33 Celcius), causing several migrants to faint and collapse from the heat. At least one man received medical attention.

An immigration official at the site who was not authorized to speak publicly said the migrants would initially be taken to an immigration detention center in Tapachula. It appeared 600 to 800 migrants were being transported.

Mexico's effort to curtail the constant flow of Central American migrants from its southern border with Guatemala was its latest response to threats from President Trump, who has promised to impose high tariffs on America's southern neighbor if it fails to put an end to illegal immigration.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard (seen above on Wednesday at the Mexican embassy in Washington, DC) says his talks with Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the White House ended with no agreement

In recent months Mexico has used raids and roadside checkpoints to discourage highway marches such as the massive migrant caravans that occurred in 2018 and early 2019.

Frustrated by the lack of progress on a signature issue from his 2016 election campaign, Trump unexpectedly told Mexico last week to take a harder line on curbing illegal immigration or face five percent tariffs on all its exports to the United States, rising to as much as 25 percent later in the year.

Vice President Mike Pence was set to be joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in an afternoon meeting Wednesday with Mexico's foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard and other top officials as they lay down Trump's demands which have been opposed by GOP officials.

But the White House says Trump is 'deadly serious' about the threat, which comes amid an ongoing trade war with China.

Trump was upbeat when asked about the standoff on a stop in Ireland Wednesday.

'I think they want to do something. I think they want to make a deal, ' Trump said. 'We'll see what happens.'

A top trade adviser said the tariffs might not have to go into effect at the end of the day – a possibility many Senate Republicans are hanging hopes on.

Images from the latest Central American caravan aiming to reach the US border showed several migrants jumping off a makeshift wooden platform attached to a rubber raft that was paddled by what appears to be a human smuggler on the Suchiate River that separates the Mexico-Guatemala border line.

Other photographs detailed the plight of the most recent wave of Central American migrants that have abandoned their homes, traveling by foot with the illusion that the US government won't turn a deaf ear to their asylum petitions despite Trump anti-immigration stance.

A father clutches his son's stroller after being detained by authorities on the highway in southern Mexico

An immigration official at the site who was not authorized to speak publicly said the migrants would initially be taken to an immigration detention center in Tapachula. It appeared 600 to 800 migrants were being transported

A migrant is restrained by several officers during the commotion outside the small town of Metapa in southern Mexico

A father carries his child as hundreds of Central American migrants walk on the highway, after crossing into Mexico

Migrants on rafts cross the Suchiate river near Ciudad Hidalgo in the southern state of Chiapas on Wednesday morning

Hundreds of Central American migrants walk together on the highway after crossing the Guatemala-Mexico border

Mexico deployed Wednesday a unit of 200 agents from the military, federal police and immigration agency to break up a group off about 1,000 Central American migrants that are traveling northward

Mexican officials will seek to persuade the White House in talks hosted by Vice President Pence on Wednesday that their government has done enough to stem immigration and avoid looming tariffs.

Speaking in Ireland, Trump said he thinks Mexico wants to make a deal to avert the tariffs but that if it does not take steps to control the flow of migrants the duties will go into effect.

'Mexico can stop it. They have to stop it, otherwise we just won't be able to do business. It's a very simple thing. And I think they will stop it. I think they want to do something. I think they want to make a deal, and they sent their top people to try and do it,' Trump said.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he was optimistic the talks can end in an agreement.

Hundreds of Central American migrants walk together on the highway in southern Mexico after crossing from Guatemala early Wednesday

Hundreds of Central American migrants (top) cross the bridge over the Suchiate River on the Guatemala - Mexico border, near Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, while others (lower center) attempt to make it to Mexico on a raft