Mexico City – Mexico and Canada temporarily avoided our tariffs after reaching a last-minute deal with President Trump. But unless another late deal, Chinese tariffs on goods came into effect Tuesday, triggering the ghost of a trade war that could drive global economic development and punish American consumers.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Trump said on Monday that they had reached at least a month’s delay, with the U.S. president threatening to impose a 25% tariff on all Mexican goods imported by the U.S.
Mexico promises to strengthen its northern border with 10,000 members of the National Guard to combat immigration and trafficking of illegal drugs. The country has long been stationed on thousands of troops on its northern border. It sent about 15,000 armed forces in 2019, and Trump threatened last time — but then backed off — tariffs.
In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said tariffs on goods in his country were also avoided for at least a month. He said on X that Canada will also strengthen its ties with the U.S. border with “new choppers, technology and personnel” and appoint “Fentanyl Tsar.”
On Saturday, Trump signed an execution order that imposes a 25% duty on imported goods in Mexico and Canada and taxes on Canadian energy products at 10%. He also imposes a 10% tax on all imports imported from China.
Trump said tariffs are necessary because the three countries have not done enough to prevent unauthorized immigration and drugs from entering the United States. The White House insists that the measures will remain in place “until the crisis is alleviated.” Trump said “nothing” would prevent him from imposing tariffs.
It is not clear whether a similar agreement can be reached with China before it takes effect on Tuesday.
The proposed 10% commodity tax on China will increase Trump’s tariffs on many Chinese imports in the first semester. have evidence These tariffs have lost U.S. jobs and brought higher prices to U.S. consumers.
The last-minute deal with Canada and Mexico follows a now-familiar Trump script: a complete threat, then announcing a last-hour deal, insisting that a targeted administration master Trump’s demands.
A similar situation occurred in Colombia last month as it sparked a diplomatic crisis after it returned to a US-bound military flight full of deportation.
Trump imposed tariffs on Colombia’s exports to the United States, but then retreated, saying that Colombian President Gustavo Petro had agreed to accept military flights with those expelled by Colombia, something Latin country leaders have never publicly confirmed.
In Mexico, experts question whether sending more National Guards to the border would do a big role to reduce smuggling of fentanyl, a very effective and hard to detect synthetic opioid.
“You won’t stop fentanyl with soldiers,” said Arturo Rocha, who served as a senior immigration official in the Mexican government, adding that even before Trump took office, the border patrol with immigrants experienced a sharp decline, thanks in part to Mexico’s efforts to stop them from reaching the U.S. border.
“Immigration levels that are irregularly crossing the United States are very low,” he said.
President Trump said he held an executive order that announced over the weekend that serious tariffs on goods in Mexico, Canada and China will take effect on Tuesday.
(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)
Adam Isacson, an analyst at the Washington office in Latin America, said this month, concerns over border patrol are expected to reach their lowest levels since 2017.
Since Trump took office, Sheinbaum, like other world leaders, has had to maintain a delicate balance between appeasement of American leaders and her domestic audience to see all the needs of Washington.
“What a circus,” said Juan Carlos Moreno-Brid, an economics professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
He said that because Mexico’s economy is linked to the U.S. economy, Sheinbaum must continue to take Trump’s tariff threat seriously, even if it’s obvious that he uses it primarily as a negotiation strategy.
“If we call his bluff, it might not be a bluff,” Moreno-Brid said, comparing Trump to a kid who “has a gun in his hand.”
The U.S.-Mexico commodity trade is $800 billion a year, and the U.S. accounts for nearly 83% of Mexico’s exports.
Experts say tariffs will destroy Mexico’s already shaky economy and may tilt it into recession. Many believe this will only exacerbate organized crime and drive more immigrants to the United States
In Canada, many people want to know why their country is targeted completely under Trump’s tariff threat.
“Less than 1% of fentanyl and less than 1% of people who illegally travel into the United States are from Canada,” Trudeau said in a speech over the weekend. He urged his countrymen not to buy American-made products and announced retaliation against tariffs on U.S. farm goods and other products in Republican-led states, a measure that is now being suspended.
He questioned why Trump fought one of America’s most determined allies.
Since winning the election in the fall, Trump has repeatedly belittled Canada, saying he wants to be the “51st state” of the United States.
Trump’s tariff plan on China took effect on Tuesday. Economists say the trade war with China will kill economic growth, create higher prices for American consumers and lead to unemployment.
Linthicum from Albuquerque and McDonald’s from Mexico City. Special correspondent Mexico City’s Cecilia Sánchez Vidal and Times staff Don Lee contributed to the report in Washington.
