Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday (local time) that if he wins the election in November he may impose tariffs on countries, including China, that do not stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the US from their territory.

Trump made the remarks while responding to a question from the audience at an event in the border electoral state of Arizona, and did not say how much tariffs he would impose in such a situation.

When asked how he would stop the flow of immigrants entering the US illegally, Trump said, “We have tremendous economic power.” Trump added that if a country like China doesn’t help stop the flow of immigrants into the US, “we have things called tariffs.”

Trump warned that if other countries don’t help reduce it, he could “impose massive tariffs on that country” if he is re-elected.

Border security and immigration have become top issues for Americans ahead of the Nov. 5 election, where Trump will face U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in a repeat of the 2020 White House contest.

Most of the people entering the US illegally are from Latin America. According to US government data, the US Border Patrol arrested more than 27,000 Chinese immigrants caught illegally crossing the border with Mexico from October 1, 2023 to April 30, 2024, part of a sharp increase in Chinese arrivals.

This was Trump’s first campaign event since a Manhattan jury on May 30 found him guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 (roughly Rs. 1.08 crores) payment made by his former lawyer Michael Cohen to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to keep her quiet about a sexual encounter he had with him.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to appeal the verdict. On Thursday, he called the trial “rigged.”

Trump criticized Biden’s latest effort to crack down on people illegally crossing the U.S. southern border, similar to an asylum ban Trump attempted to impose while he was president.

Biden on Tuesday took executive action that imposes a sweeping asylum ban on migrants who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump claimed Biden’s new plan is “disgraceful” and amounts to “death and defeat” at the border, even though Biden’s measure mirrors Trump-era policies to deter potential migrants.

Biden has hardened his stance on border security, as immigration has emerged as a major political problem for him.

Trump has made a tough stance on immigration a central plank of his administration and has vowed to take sweeping action if re-elected.

Under Biden’s order, migrants caught crossing the border illegally could be immediately deported or sent back to Mexico. The order went into effect Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said there are exceptions for unaccompanied children, people facing serious medical or safety threats and victims of human trafficking.

Trump called Biden’s measure “bullshit,” prompting a chant of “bullshit” from his friendly audience in Phoenix. Trump said he would repeal Biden’s measure on his first day in office if re-elected.

Trump claimed without evidence that Biden’s asylum ban would allow at least two million “illegal alien border crossers” to enter the US each year.

Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond when asked how he arrived at that figure.

The US Border Patrol will arrest nearly two million migrants crossing the border illegally in the fiscal year that ends on September 30, 2023, and the country is on track to see similar figures this year. But Biden’s latest move is aimed at reducing border crossing attempts, not maintaining current levels.

Trump also said he may recall US troops deployed abroad to patrol the southern border.

Biden tried unsuccessfully for months to pass a Senate bill crafted by a bipartisan group that would tighten border security, but Republicans rejected it after Trump opposed it.

Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Muñoz said in a statement, “Donald Trump blocked the toughest, fairest bipartisan border legislation in a generation. He did it because he thinks it will help him politically”. Muñoz said Trump’s role in killing the bill allows him to claim that the immigration system is “broken”.

Many people were carried out of Trump’s event on stretchers due to exhaustion after standing in line for hours in 43 degree Celsius temperatures.