Trump threatens to close US-Mexico border over immigration dispute

President Donald Trump has said he is likely to close the US border if Mexico does not do more to stop migrants reaching the United States.

The closure would disrupt border crossings, costing billions of dollars in trade.

In a flurry of early morning tweets, Trump warned: "May close the Southern Border!"

"Mexico is doing NOTHING to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants to our Country. They are all talk and no action," he added.

"Likewise, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador have taken our money for years, and do Nothing. The Dems don't care, such Bad laws."

Trump has previously made similar threats, including in December in the early days of America's longest-ever federal government shutdown when he vowed to seal the frontier "entirely" if Congress does not approve billions of dollars in funding for a wall.

Trump's threat follows a surge in migrants travelling through Mexico to seek asylum in the US.

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he would not be drawn into confrontation on the issue.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said in a tweet that Mexico was a "great neighbour" to the US and would "not act on the basis of threats".

Trump told reporters on Friday: "There's a very good likelihood that I'll be closing the border next week, and that will be just fine with me."

He said it was very easy for Mexico to "stop people from coming up, but they don't choose to do it".

The president later wrote a series of tweets which concluded that because the US "lose so much money with them, especially when you add in drug trafficking etc., that the Border closing would be a good thing!"

President López Obrador said on Thursday that the issue of migration was "not up to us Mexicans".

He said it was a problem stemming from Central American countries rather than Mexico.

Following President Trump's tweets on Friday, López Obrador said to a crowd of supporters: "I want to make it clear that we are not going to fight with the United States government. Peace and love."

He referred to migration as a "human right" and said: "People in Central America don't have any options, so they set out looking for a way to earn a living."