Trump’s Tariffs in Chaos Already After Stock Markets Plunge
Donald Trump’s proposed 25 percent tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian imports have been put on pause for a month.
The delays were revealed Monday after Trump spoke with both allies’ presidents by phone.
Mexico was the first to reach a temporary deal, with Trump revealing Monday morning he had a “friendly” phone conversation with its president, Claudia Sheinbaum, in what was a break from the so-far frosty relationship between the leaders.
Sheinbaum said Mexico, as part of a deal, would immediately reinforce its northern border with 10,000 National Guard soldiers to curb drug trafficking into the U.S. She said there will be an emphasis on stopping the flow of fentanyl.
She added the U.S. has also committed “to working to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons into Mexico,” suggesting the border commitment will go both ways. Proposed retaliatory tariffs on American goods in Mexico have also been paused.
The sharp tariffs, which Trump admitted may bring “pain” to American consumers, were blamed for a sharp drop in the S&P 500 at opening on Monday. Despite announcing the tariffs Friday, they were set to go into effect Monday evening.
Trump said his conversation with Sheinbaum was “very friendly.” However, he insisted the month-long pause is temporary and the tariffs will go live in March if he and his cabinet members, like Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent, are not able to cut a permanent deal with Sheinbaum.
“I look forward to participating in those negotiations, with President Sheinbaum, as we attempt to achieve a ‘deal’ between our two countries,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Monday.
Trump has clashed with the U.S. ally at times in recent months, particularly over migration, drugs, and the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America.
The president has had a similarly hostile relationship with Canada and its prime minister, Justin Trudeau, as Trump has semi-seriously suggested in recent months that Canada should be annexed by the U.S. and become the country’s 51st state.
The two men were able to reach a deal on Monday afternoon, however, after their second conversation by phone that day.
Like with Sheinbaum, the pause appeared to require that Trudeau make promises about securing its border with the U.S., which is the longest in the world at 5,525 miles long.
“I just had a good call with President Trump,” Trudeau wrote on X. “Canada is implementing our $1.3 billion border plan—reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl.”
Trudeau said the plan will see “nearly 10,000 frontline personnel” be placed at the border, and he promised to appoint a so-called “Fentanyl Czar” to oversee it. Also, like the U.S. has recently done, he said Canada would now consider “cartels as terrorists.”
Trump laid out the same conditions in a Truth Social post that followed Trudeau’s statement. He suggested tariffs will be back on the table next month if a “final economic deal with Canada” cannot be reached.
“FAIRNESS FOR ALL!” he concluded.
