Trump suspends tariffs on Canada and Mexico again

US president exempts many goods from both countries for a further one month but moves cause stock market uncertainty

- ANDREW FEINBERG

President Donald Trump yesterday said he was granting a month-long reprieve on unilaterally ordering tax increases on some goods imported from Mexico and Canada that will expire on 2 April, when he is set to order reciprocal tariffs on imports from a broad range of countries.

After a telephone call with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum earlier in the day, Mr Trump said he was granting an exemption on any goods imported into the US that are compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement that he negotiated during his first term.

“After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement. This Agreement is until April 2nd,” he said in a statement posted to his Truth Social platform.

He added that the temporary reprieve was “an accommodation” made “out of respect” for Ms Sheinbaum, who he credited for “working hard” with him to combat illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking across the US-Mexico border.

“Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl. Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation,” he said.

Speaking in the Oval Office a few hours later, Mr Trump called Ms Sheinbaum “a wonderful woman” and said he’d “helped them out” by signing orders to pause the tariffs.

He claimed that both countries – and others – were “ripping off” the United States and downplayed the effects tariffs would have on American consumers.

“Now, these are countries and companies, foreign companies, that have been ripping us off, and no President did anything about it, until I came along, and I did a lot about it,” he said.