US President Donald Trump suspended his threat of steep tariffs on Mexico and Canada on Monday, agreeing to a 30-day pause in return for concessions on border and crime enforcement with the two neighboring countries. US tariffs on China are still due to take effect within hours.
Both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said they had agreed to bolster border enforcement efforts in response to Trump’s demand to crack down on immigration and drug smuggling. That would pause 25 percent tariffs due to take effect on Tuesday for 30 days.
“I just spoke with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico. It was a very friendly conversation wherein she agreed to immediately supply 10,000 Mexican Soldiers on the Border separating Mexico and the United States,” Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier Monday.
“These soldiers will be specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl, and illegal migrants into our country,” he wrote.
He took to Truth Social with a similar announcement later in the day, after Trudeau first announced the 30-day pause.
“Canada has agreed to ensure we have a secure Northern Border, and to finally end the deadly scourge of drugs like Fentanyl that have been pouring into our Country, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, while destroying their families and communities all across our Country,” Trump posted.
After his call with Trump, Trudeau said Canada would be implementing its previously announced $1.3 billion border plan, as well as committing to appointing a “fentanyl czar” and listing cartels as terrorists.
Has Trump’s confrontation on tariffs paid off?
Trump’s confrontation with the US’s closest trading partners appears to have paid off, with both Mexico and Canada agreeing to stricter border security and taking bigger steps to address fentanyl trafficking, the BBC says.
The strategy to leverage the US economy to force concessions from other countries notches a win for Trump’s “America first” agenda, allowing him to follow through on core domestic issues without American consumers feeling the sting of the economic consequences of a continental trade war, it adds.
But as CNN notes the extraordinary tariff announcement over the weekend against America’s three largest trading partners had raised alarm even among some corners of Trump’s own party and sent shockwaves through the North American economy, rattling businesses and the markets and delivering uncertainty to consumers who are still reeling from years of high inflation.
Trump’s tariff promises have also kicked off a trade war. Canada ordered retaliatory tariffs, and China said it would “take necessary countermeasures.”
The Wall Street Journal had delivered a blistering critique of the Trump tariffs in a weekend editorial entitled: “The dumbest trade war in history.”
When asked about the market reaction — and the Wall Street Journal’s editorial — Trump demurred on Monday when signing executive actions in the Oval Office.
“Not only is it not dumb, you’re going to see, you’re going to see every single one of those countries is dying to make a deal,” he said.