President Donald Trump signed orders Thursday to delay collecting tariffs from Mexico on many products until April 2. Tariffs on some goods from Canada would also be delayed, according to the orders the White House announced Thursday.
“Most of the tariffs go on April the second,” Trump said before signing new executive orders to change the tariff plans. “And then we have some temporary ones and small ones, relatively small, although it’s a lot of money having to do with Mexico and Canada.”
Thursday's orders delaying tariffs will apply to most goods from Mexico and Canada that were eligible for the 2020 USMCA trade agreement. The order will delay the planned 25% tariffs against those goods for one month.
Potash imported from Canada, which is used in U.S. agriculture, will be subject to a 10% tariff.
More than 60% of goods imported from Canada to the U.S. will still be subject to the planned 25% tariffs because they do not comply with the USMCA, White House officials said. Roughly half of goods imported from Mexico will face new tariffs for the same reason.
President Trump said he made the decision to delay collecting tariffs on many Mexican goods after speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum.
"I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for President Sheinbaum. 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!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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Tariffs of 25% were set to begin on goods being imported from Mexico and Canada this week. But as economists warned of the immediate impacts that consumers could soon feel, the Trump administration said Wednesday it would delay implementing the tariffs on some cars produced by automakers.
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement was the 2019 pact President Trump signed during his first term, which continued free trade between the three nations. On Wednesday, President Trump said he had spoken to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the tariffs.
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"Justin Trudeau, of Canada, called me to ask what could be done about tariffs. I told him that many people have died from fentanyl that came through the borders of Canada and Mexico, and nothing has convinced me that it has stopped," Trump wrote. "He said that it’s gotten better, but I said, 'That’s not good enough.'"
Trudeau has stated that Canada has strengthened its border security and does not believe his nation has played much of a role in the United States' battle with fentanyl.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
