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Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced a pause to President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on imports after a meeting between the two world leaders.
Sheinbaum, while addressing the nation at a press conference, said that she and Trump had reached a series of agreements to delay the U.S. president’s tariffs until next month. Negotiations between the U.S. and Mexico will continue in the interim.
Mexico will reinforce its northern border with 10,000 members of its National Guard to police drug trafficking, with a focus on fentanyl. The U.S. will also commit to working on preventing the trafficking of weapons to Mexico; between 200,000 and 500,000 U.S. firearms are smuggled into Mexico every year, according to CBS News.
Trump wrote on his app Truth Social that negotiations will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and “high-level” representatives from Mexico. “I look forward to participating in those negotiations, with President Sheinbaum, as we attempt to achieve a ‘deal’ between our two Countries,” he added.
On Saturday, Trump announced a slew of tariffs on imported goods from the nation’s top trade partners. That includes a 25% tariff on all Mexican imports, 25% on most Canadian imports, and 10% on all Chinese imports. Energy exports from Canada will be taxed at a 10% rate because the U.S. is highly dependent on Canadian crude oil.
Those tariffs were set to go into effect on goods that cross into the U.S. or are withdrawn from a warehouse on or after 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday, according to the White House. Neither Canada nor China has announced similar deals to delay those tariffs as of yet, although Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Trump earlier on Monday. Trudeau and Trump are scheduled to again meet at 3:00 p.m. ET, the U.S. president said.
Before the pause, Sheinbaum had directed Mexico’s economy secretary to implement a series of tariff and non-tariff retaliatory measures “in defense of Mexico’s interests.” Those plans would likely target food products, such as cheese, pork, and whiskey, along with manufactured steel and aluminum, Reuters reported last week.
The U.S. imported $38.5 billion in agricultural goods from Mexico in 2023, including 90% of all avocados, along with $40.5 billion worth of agricultural imports from Canada. Other major imports from Canada, Mexico, and China include aluminum, wood, plastics, electronics, semiconductors, and more.