United States (US) President Donald Trump said Mexico will not have to pay tariffs on goods covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) until April 2, but made no mention of a delay for Canada, despite his Commerce Secretary saying a similar exception was likely expected, Reuters reports.
"After speaking with the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA agreement," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This agreement runs until April 2nd."
Voice of America reports that this is the second one-month delay announced by Trump since he first announced the import tariffs in early February. The delay would apply to goods that are in line with the trade agreement Trump negotiated with Canada and Mexico during his first term.
Voice of America also states that Trump's repeated tariff threats have roiled financial markets, lowered consumer confidence and brought an uncertain atmosphere to many businesses that could delay hiring and investment.
Earlier today, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said a one-year reprieve from high tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada, which was granted for automotive products, could be extended to all products that comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement.
Lutnik told CNBC that he expects Trump to announce the expansion today, a day after exempting automotive goods from the 25 percent tariffs he imposed on imports from Canada and Mexico earlier this week.
"Trump will make a decision today," Lutnik said, adding "it will likely cover all goods and services that are in line with the USMCA agreement."
"Think of it this way, if you lived under Donald's US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, you will now have a reprieve from these tariffs. If you chose to go beyond that, you did so at your own peril, and today is the day of reckoning," Lutnik said.
However, Trump's social media post did not mention a delay for Canada, the other party to the USMCA agreement that Trump negotiated during his first term.
Lutnik said his "quick estimate" is that more than 50 percent of goods imported from these two US neighboring countries - which are also the US's two largest trading partners - are in compliance with the USMCA agreement that Trump negotiated.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Lutnik's comments "promising" in statements to reporters in Canada.
"That's consistent with some of the conversations we've had with administration officials, but I'll wait for a formal agreement to talk about the Canadian response and look at the details," Trudeau said. "But it's a promising sign. But I would emphasize that it means the tariffs remain in place, and therefore our response will remain in place."
Lutnik stressed that the delay would last until April 2, when he said the administration plans to move to reciprocal tariff application, under which the US would impose tariffs that match those imposed by trading countries.
Meanwhile, he said, the current shutdown is aimed at reducing deaths from fentanyl, which was the initial justification Trump used for imposing tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and for tariffs on Chinese products that have now risen to 20 percent.
"On April 2nd, we're moving to a reciprocal tariff, and we're hoping that Mexico and Canada will do enough to reduce the number of fentanyl deaths so that this part of the conversation gets taken off the table, and we'll just move to talking about reciprocal tariffs," Lutnik said. "But if they haven't done that, this will stay in place."
Indeed, Trudeau expects the US and Canada to remain in a trade war.
"I confirm that we will continue to be in a trade war initiated by the United States for the foreseeable future," he told reporters in Ottawa.
Mexican president praises 'excellent' call with Trump, vows cooperation
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum thanked her US counterpart Donald Trump for an "excellent and respectable" invitation, and pledged that Mexico would continue to work on security and migration issues as the United States temporarily reduces tariffs on certain Mexican imports, Reuters reports.
Sheinbaum said the U.S. and Mexico will continue to work together to reduce the flow of the opioid fentanyl from Mexico into the United States, a key sticking point in negotiations over the 25 percent tariffs on Mexican goods that took effect earlier this week.
"We had an excellent and respectful call in which we agreed that our work and cooperation would yield unprecedented results, within the framework of respecting our sovereignties," Sheinbaum said in a post on X.
After the two spoke today, Trump announced that Mexico would not be required to pay tariffs on any goods falling under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement until April 2, when Trump promised that reciprocal tariffs would be imposed on all countries.
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