U.S. halts Mexico tariffs as new border agreement looms
The United States has suspended for a month the 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico, President Donald Trump announced on Monday on the Truth Social platform.
In his post, Trump announced that during a "very friendly" conversation with Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum, it was agreed that Mexico will send 10,000 of its soldiers to the border with the USA. Their task will be to "stop the influx of fentanyl and illegal immigrants" to the United States. As part of this agreement, the previously planned tariffs will be suspended for a month, providing time for negotiations involving Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the heads of the departments of finance and commerce, Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick.
Donald Trump: I can't wait
"I can't wait to participate in these negotiations with President Sheinbaum, as we try to reach an 'agreement' between our countries," Trump wrote.
Sheinbaum also reported the information about the suspension of tariffs.
The suspension of tariffs occurred less than a day before they were scheduled to take effect. Mexico had previously, in 2024, sent troops to the border region in response to an increase in violence in Juarez. The official reason for imposing high tariffs on Mexico was the "influx of fentanyl and illegal immigrants," although Trump also pointed to a trade deficit with Mexico, Canada, and China.
Trump also informed that regarding tariffs, he spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and announced that he will have another conversation with him at 8 PM Greenwich Time. In the same post, he accused Canada of not allowing American banks to operate.
According to statistics from the Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP), less than 1% of drugs intercepted by U.S. services is smuggled through Canada. Statistics from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also indicate that over the last year, the number of drug overdose deaths, including fentanyl, has started to decline to levels below 90,000 annually.
The "Wall Street Journal" notes that just after the announcement of the suspension of tariffs, American stock markets began to recover the losses recorded after the market opened on Monday.
