President Donald Trump on Monday agreed to a 30-day pause on his tariff threats against Mexico and Canada as America’s two largest trading partners took steps to appease his concerns about border security and drug trafficking.
Trump on Saturday had directed 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, with another 10% tariff on Canadian oil, natural gas and electricity. He also ordered an additional 10% tax on imports from China.
All of the tariffs were scheduled to start at midnight Tuesday. Canada and Mexico threatened retaliation, raising the prospects of a broader regional trade war.
But on Monday morning that changed, with Mexico first folding.
Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced the monthlong pause on increased tariffs against one another after what Trump described on social media as a “very friendly conversation,” and he said he looked forward to the upcoming talks.
“I look forward to participating in those negotiations, with President Sheinbaum, as we attempt to achieve a ‘deal’ between our two Countries,” the president said on social media.
Trump said the talks would be headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce nominee Howard Lutnick and high-level representatives of Mexico. Sheinbaum said she was reinforcing the border with 10,000 members of her country’s National Guard and that the U.S. government would commit “to work to stop the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico.”
Later on Monday, Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, after speaking twice by telephone with Mr. Trump, said U.S. tariffs on his country’s goods would be postponed by 30 days as negotiations on a border deal took place.
After his call with Mr. Trudeau, Mr. Trump wrote in a social media post that he had agreed to the pause “to see whether or not a final Economic deal with Canada can be structured.” Mr. Trudeau, in his own social media post, described measures that were already being enacted under its $1.3 billion border plan, including the deployment of additional technology and personnel to “ensure 24/7 eyes on the border.” He said the two countries would also establish a joint strike force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering.
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8 Responses
1. Neither the Mexicans nor Canadians made any meaningful concessions. They both agreed to ban drug smuggling, which they have been doing all along. They simply agreed to continue to do what they were already doing. That is not a “win” – at best its a “draw”.
2. Most importantly, the Canadians did not agree to open their markets to American dairy or banking services. The Mexicans did not agree to importing stuff from China, or then sending into the US as if it were of Mexican origin. The Mexicans didn’t also agree to honor obligations to American companies doing business in Mexico. These would have been “wins” for Mexico.
3. My guess is Trump was in a state of panic when the stock markets started crashing on Sunday evening. He realized that a tariff on North American oil (and other energy forms) would not “punish” the Mexicans or Canadians, but would cause inflation in the United States. The same held true for timber (of the type used for construction) from Canada, and agricultural produce from Mexico. So Trump realized he would be blamed for crashing the stock market, hurting the profits of American companies and worst of all, raising domestic prices (“inflation” – the primary issue that undermined the Democrats in 2024), so he wisely surrendered, “declared victory” and withdrew from the battle. Much to his credit, Trump realized he goofed and changed directions to avoid hurting his core constituency.
Your headline is pure MAGA nonsense. The only one who folded like a “wet paper bag” is Trump. Mexico and Canada gave Trump nothing. Canada is merely implementing what it had already planned to do. Mexico much the same. Stop being naïve and falling for Trump’s nonsense, His schpiel is always that same. Pick a fight for no good reason. Then back down and claim the he won. Even in his standoff with Columbia they agreed to nothing more than they had been doing for years. The biggest example of this is when Trump boasted of renegotiating NAFTA and basically renamed the same deal the USMCA and then claimed it was the best deal ever. The man knows that his minions will believe whatever he tells them don’t degrade YWN by mindlessly parroting his nonsense.
Trump is folding much like he folded on his funding freeze last week. The guy shoots from the hip and is clearly out of his league.
A misleading and disgusting headline!
Many Americans have unfortunately allowed the essential skill of negotiation to fall by the wayside, often viewing it as an unnecessary expenditure of time and energy.
Tariffs serve as a powerful tool for engaging our so-called “allies,” while sanctions effectively confront the challenges posed by our adversaries.
With strategic planning and determination, our “allies” will be compelled to come to the negotiating table under our terms and conditions. We have been short-changed for far too long and now is our time to assert our position.
Let’s remain vigilant and observe how the current situation unfolds; we know that the clock stops ticking on day 30.
Contrary to the dismissive comments here, the fact remains that the harsh rhetoric that had been coming from Mexico and Canada has abruptly ceased and reversed course. I am here in Canada and I can say that it is obvious from Trudeau’s press speech that Trudeau had the wind knocked out of him. And while there may previously have been some nominal commitment of funds to expanded border security, past experience has shown that allocated funds tend to be siphoned off to unrelated matters. But now the U.S. will be watching whether the funds will really be used to fulfil their promise. And despite the first commentators remarks, Trump is not trying to get every deal completed in one swipe. Negotiations don’t work that fast. The first objective is to get them to the table. And in terms of things like inflation and the stock market, the argument works in both directions and Canada has a lot more to be concerned about than the U.S. And most probably this was the intended strategy all along.
You’ve really got this backwards, the degenerate adulterous felonious dumbbell fell on both knees. He didn’t expect the brave strong response from Canada and Mexico and the outrage of the American people. Why btw was the Chinese tarrif so much lower than our largest trading partners? Because he’s terrified of Xi Jinping!
To those claiming this is somehow a loss for Trump here’s some more breaking news:
America clearly lost the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and Germany won both world wars. It’s obvious. I don’t know how anyone can deny it.
You just don’t know what winning means…