Mexico’s president has announced a significant change in the tariff imposed on her nation by Donald Trump following an agreement with the US president.
Trump initiated tariffs targeting Canada, Mexico, and China on January 31. These tariffs included an additional 25 percent on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10 percent increase on imports from China.
The White House introduced these tariffs in an attempt to address what they described as an ‘extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl,’ stating in a press release that the tariffs would remain ‘until the crisis is alleviated’.
The White House asserted, “President Trump is taking bold action to hold Mexico, Canada, and China accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country.”
The imposition of tariffs has led to widespread controversy, with Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, responding to claims that her administration was collaborating with drug cartels.
In a Twitter post, Sheinbaum said: “We categorically reject the White House’s slanderous claim that the Mexico government has alliances with criminal organisations, as well as any attempt to intervene in our territory. If there is anywhere that such an alliance in fact exists, it is in the United States gun factories that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups.”
Following her initial response, President Sheinbaum announced that Mexico has reached a ‘series of agreements’ with Trump after a ‘good conversation’ marked by ‘great respect for [their] relationship and sovereignty’.
One of these agreements, which Sheinbaum announced on Twitter, is a one-month ‘pause’ on the tariff against Mexico, effective from today (February 3).
The ‘pause’ follows Mexico’s commitment to ‘immediately reinforce the northern border with 10,000 members of the National Guard’ to combat drug trafficking into the US.
In return, Sheinbaum noted, the US has agreed to ‘commit to working to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico’.
Another accord reached between Sheinbaum and Trump involves collaboration on security and trade.
The decision to pause tariffs came after the governors of Mexico’s 31 states and Mexico City issued a joint statement refuting claims that the government was connected to cartels.
The statement, endorsed by numerous politicians, declared: “We energetically condemn the accusations that suggest there is a link between our government and narco-trafficking cartels. These claims are not only baseless, they also ignore the major, verifiable efforts Mexico has made to combat organised crime.”