President Donald Trump on Thursday postponed 25% tariffs on many imports from Mexico and some imports from Canada for a month amid widespread fears of the economic fallout from a broader trade war.
The White House insists its tariffs are about stopping the smuggling of fentanyl, but Trump's proposed taxes have caused a gaping wound in the decades-old North American trade partnership, and Canada has felt compelled to quickly take aggressive countermeasures.
Trump’s tariff plans have also caused the stock market to sink and alarmed U.S. consumers.
Trump said Thursday that he has postponed 25% tariffs on most goods from Mexico for a month after a conversation with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
“I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum,” Trump said. “Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl.”
The Mexican government has cracked down on cartels, sent troops to the U.S. border and delivered 29 top cartel bosses long chased by American authorities to the Trump administration in a span of weeks.
Sheinbaum said later that she told the President Mexico was making great strides in fulfilling his security demands.
“I told him we’re getting results,” Sheinbaum said. But the U.S. imposed the tariffs, so she asked Trump “how are we going to continue cooperating, collaborating with something that hurts the people of Mexico?”
“I need to continue working together and cooperating with you all, but we need to work as equals,” Sheinbaum said she told Trump.
She said the two countries will continue to work together on migration and security, and to cut back on fentanyl trafficking to the U.S.
She added that Trump said he would crack down on the flow of American weapons trafficked into Mexico, which has fueled cartel warfare in the Latin American country, though Trump hasn’t elaborated on what his government has done to address the weapons trafficking.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday he welcomed indications that the U.S. would delay substantial tariffs on Canadian products for a month, but said Canada’s retaliatory tariffs would remain in place for now.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, the leader of Canada’s most populous province, said Thursday that, starting on Monday, the province will charge 25% more for electricity shipped to 1.5 million Americans in response to Trump’s tariff plan. Ontario provides electricity to Minnesota, New York and Michigan.
“This whole thing with President Trump is a mess,” Ford said. “This reprieve, we've went down this road before. He still threatens the tariffs on April 2.”
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly has said that Canada is not interested in going “through this psychodrama every 30 days so.”
