President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he would temporarily halt a proposed 25% tariff on goods imported to the United States from Mexico after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum pledged to deploy 10,000 troops to bolster security at the border.
“I just spoke with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social. “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. These soldiers will be specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl, and illegal migrants into our Country.”
He added: We further agreed to immediately pause the anticipated tariffs for a one month period during which we will have negotiations headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and high-level Representatives of Mexico. I look forward to participating in those negotiations, with President Sheinbaum, as we attempt to achieve a ‘deal’ between our two Countries.”
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Trump had said he was imposing a 25% tariff on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada until both countries increased efforts to secure their borders. The White House said that Mexican drug trafficking organizations had “an intolerable alliance with the government of Mexico,” which it said “afforded safe havens for the cartels to engage” to traffic drugs into the U.S. Sheinbaum initially recoiled at the claim, writing on X on Saturday, “We categorically reject the White House’s slanderous claim that the Mexico government has alliances with criminal organizations.”
Mexico’s president struck a more conciliatory tone on Monday morning, writing in a new post that she “had a good conversation with President Trump” leading up to the agreement to deploy troops.
The tariffs had been set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley analysts said over the weekend that the tariffs would likely throw Mexico into recession, writing, “A recession in Mexico becomes the base case.” In contrast, they said U.S. inflation “could be 0.3% to 0.6% higher” over baseline estimates for three to four months after tariffs are imposed.
The 25% tariff on Canada and a 10% tariff on China are still slated to go into effect. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that his country would retaliate with tariffs on 1,256 items that come predominantly from Republican states. That list includes beer and wine, motorcycles, fruit, and household appliances.
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Trump addressed his tussle with Canada in remarks to reporters on Sunday evening, saying the country had “been very abusive of the United States for many years.” He added, “Canada has been very tough for oil on energy. They don’t allow our farm products in, essentially. They don’t allow a lot of things in. And we allow everything to come in as being a one-way street.”
You can watch Trump’s remarks above beginning around the 2:15 mark.