On Monday, President Trump said he was pausing recently announced tariffs on Mexico for one month after speaking with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who agreed to send 10,000 troops to the US border.
“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.
The president said the Mexican troops would be deployed to the border to “stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal migrants into our Country.”
Trump said the tariffs would be paused for one month while the US and Mexico negotiate some sort of deal related to the border. “I look forward to participating in those negotiations, with President Sheinbaum, as we attempt to achieve a ‘deal’ between our two Countries,” he said.
Sheinbaum also announced the pause on US tariffs and said she “had a good conversation with President Trump with great respect for our relationship and sovereignty; we reached a series of agreements.”
The Mexican leader added that the US is “committed to working to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico.”
The conversation between Trump and Sheinbaum came two days after Trump signed an executive order to increase tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods by 25% and imports coming from China by 10%.
Trump framed the tariffs as a way to pressure Mexico and Canada to reduce the flow of fentanyl into the US, which will be extremely difficult since its high potency means traffickers can smuggle massive numbers of doses in small, hard-to-detect packages.
Trump has acknowledged that Americans may feel “pain” due to the tariffs since the cost is passed off to the consumer. Canada has also announced retaliatory tariffs in response, and China says it’s filing a legal complaint with the World Trade Organization.
