Trump Agrees to Delay Tariffs on Goods From Mexico and Canada for 30 Days

The U.S. has agreed to delay tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada for one month to allow for more time for negotiations. The agreement from both sides happened on Monday, just hours before the tariffs were set to take effect.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said U.S. tariffs against Mexico will be delayed for one month after a conversation with President Donald Trump on Monday. Trump then confirmed the news on Truth social.

Mexico’s president said she had reached several agreements with Trump during the phone call and that both countries will start working on trade and security.

Sheinbaum also said her government agreed to reinforce the border with the U.S. with 10,000 National Guard officers to prevent the trafficking of drugs, particularly fentanyl, from Mexico to the U.S.

Trump had announced plans to hold discussions with the leaders of Canada and Mexico on Monday following his recent declaration of imposing significant tariffs on imports from these countries and China.

“I don’t expect anything very dramatic,” Trump said before he held any of the calls. “We put tariffs on. They owe us a lot of money, and I’m sure they’re going to pay.”

Tariffs Also Delayed At Least One Month on Goods from Canada

Just hours after Mexico’s president said Trump agreed to pause tariffs for at least 30 days, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a similar announcement on X.

In his tweet, Trudeau wrote, “I just had a good call with President Trump.”

Trudeau also committed to appointing a “Fentanyl Czar” and better patrol the border.

Executive Order Over the Weekend Hit Mexico and Canada With Tariffs

Before and after Trump singed the executive order over the weekend, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum vowed to counter with retaliatory measures. On Saturday, Sheinbaum announced Mexico would issue its own retaliatory measures to Trump’s 25% tariffs, but no specifics were unveiled.

Sheinbaum said last week she had told her economy minister “to implement Plan B” which she said “includes tariff and non-tariff measures” though it was not clear what those measures were exactly.Sheinbaum said: “We have Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, depending on what the government of the United States decides. It’s very important that Mexicans know that we will always defend the dignity of our people, respect for our sovereignty and a dialogue among equals [with the U.S.], not with subordinates.”

Sheinbaum noted that Mexico has been open to receiving its citizens sent back under Trump’s plan for mass deportation of unauthorized migrants and that it was prepared to take some from other countries, which represented a concession. Deputy Economy Minister for Trade Luis Rosendo Gutierrez is expected to travel to Washington on Monday, according to reports. But he can’t meet with U.S. trade or Commerce Department officials until they’re formally ratified, they said. Instead, he’ll talk to business leaders and associations. Sheinbaum has also pointed to Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente as a key interlocutor to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

High-level teams from Mexico’s foreign ministry and the State Department are in frequent communication working on security and migration, Mexico is the No. 1 trade partner of the United States, and sends 80% of its exports north. Mexico supplies around half of America’s imported fruit and two-thirds of imported vegetables, in dollar terms — tomatoes, berries, bell peppers, cucumbers. And it’s the largest source of imported beer. Mexico also is the No. 1 provider of medical devices to American hospitals and doctor’s offices, from surgical gloves to scalpels. Mexico emerged last year as the top market for American agricultural exports, totaling $30 billion.

Trump announced general tariffs at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida estate. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the tariffs would be implemented immediately, but as noted, Canada said tariffs would be implemented on their goods on Tuesday. It typically takes weeks for tariffs to take practical effect.

Key points:

• Sector-specific tariffs: New duties will target high-tech and industrial sectors, potentially covering more imports by dollar value than previous tariffs on China. Trump also suggested Friday he’d consider new tariffs on oil and gas, potentially by Feb. 18, though it wasn’t clear what he was referring to.
• The duties come on top of existing tariffs on those products. The first Trump administration imposed tariffs on more than $300 billion worth of Chinese goods to respond to an array of unfair trade practices, including intellectual property theft. The Biden administration kept all of them in place and increased rates on $18 billion in goods, including electric vehicles, solar panels, medical equipment, lithium-ion batteries, steel, and aluminum.
• A second wave of tariffs could follow a comprehensive review of the trade relationship among the three countries (Canada, Mexico and China) that Trump has ordered completed by April 1.
• Exemptions and negotiations: There are ongoing discussions about potential carve-outs for critical industries (like oil and automobiles) amid intense lobbying by U.S. business and labor groups. Some hope for exemptions to mitigate domestic economic risks. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday that there was nothing Canada, Mexico and China could do to avoid the tariffs before Saturday. “Not right now,” he said, telling reporters that his tariff threat wasn’t a negotiating tool. “It’s a pure economic [decision],” he said. But he did say he was considering a lower tariff on Canadian crude oil — 10% instead of 25% (and that it was he announced on Saturday). At nearly $100 billion in 2023, imports of crude oil accounted for roughly a quarter of all U.S. imports from Canada, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The tariff on China would be for what Trump said was failing to stop the manufacturing of fentanyl precursor chemicals.

Reasons for the tariffs”

Trump on Friday said, “We’ll be announcing the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for a number of reasons. Number one is the people that have poured into our country so horribly and so much,” he said about migrants that have entered the United States via its southern and northern borders. “Number two are the drugs, fentanyl and everything else, that have come into the country and number three are the massive subsidies that we’re giving to Canada and to Mexico in the form of [trade] deficits,” Trump said. “I’ll be putting the tariff of 25% on Canada and separately 25% on Mexico and we will really have to do that because we have very big deficits with those countries. Those tariffs may or may not rise with time,” he said.

During a Friday press conference in the Oval Office, Trump criticized the previous administration’s handling of trade agreements. During his previous term, Trump initiated trade disputes, particularly with China, which significantly impacted U.S. agricultural exports. He stated that China had committed to buying $50 billion a year in farm products, but claimed that former President Joe Biden didn’t enforce this commitment. Trump said, “We’re going to enforce it,” referring to this $50 billion annual purchase agreement with China. His recent statements suggest a continuation of this aggressive stance on trade, framing it as necessary to protect American farmers and correct perceived imbalances left unaddressed by the Biden administration.

Trump’s team was initially considering a grace period between the announcement of the tariffs on Saturday and when they would be imposed, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt played down that possibility on Friday. Leavitt said that a Reuters report stating that the tariffs wouldn’t be implemented until March 1 was “false.”

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