US president Donald Trump insisted today that his abrupt decision to delay by a month the decision to impose 25pc tariffs on imports from Mexico had nothing to do with the reaction of financial markets or criticism from the normally reliable quarters of his support.
Trump's decision-making on Mexico tariffs so far looks like a signature move from his first term — escalatory rhetoric and action followed by de-escalation after extracting concessions that do not appear to be significant. Trump said today he agreed to postpone the 4 February implementation of 25pc tariffs on Mexican goods by one month, after receiving assurances from Mexico president Claduia Sheinbaum that she would immediately reinforce the shared border with 10,000 national guard troops.
Trump said there would be negotiations in the coming weeks between Mexican officials and US secretary of state Marco Rubio, secretary of the treasury Scott Bessent and secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick to prevent the tariffs from going into effect.
Trump's plans to impose import taxes on Mexico, Canada and China weighed on stock markets early on Monday and boosted oil prices and the US dollar. The effects of his tariffs and any retaliatory actions by Mexico would have been felt on both sides of the border and would have severely curtailed the flow of energy and other commodities between the two countries.
"There was no blinking", Trump said in a free-flowing gaggle with reporters at the White House. "She did agree to 10,000 soldiers on the border. I would say that's a lot."
Trump in 2019 similarly threatened to impose 5pc tariffs on all Mexican goods. He relented when former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Mexico would deploy 21,000 national guard troops to contain the flow of migrants toward the US.
"Dumbest Trade War" or deal pathway?
Trump, who invited the press into the Oval Office today to observe the signing of an executive order establishing a sovereign wealth fund for the US, heaped praise on News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch, who was invited as a guest at the ceremony.
But Trump pushed back against News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal's editorial board, which described his tariffs on US neighbors as "the Dumbest Trade War".
"I don't agree with [Murdoch] on many things," Trump said. "The Wall Street Journal is wrong, because, very simply, every single country that you're writing about right now is dying to make a deal."
Canada, which is also subject to a 25pc tariffs beginning tomorrow, so far has not made a deal with the US. Trump said he spoke with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau this morning and would speak again at 3pm ET.
"We're going to talk again at three o'clock, right after my next meeting, and we'll see what happens," Trump said. "I can't tell you what's going to happen."
The US has yet to offer details on implementing tariffs or to break down which Canadian energy commodities would be subject to a lower, 10pc import tax. The White House executive order listed the exemptions as "crude oil, natural gas, lease condensates, natural gas liquids, refined petroleum products, uranium, coal, biofuels, geothermal heat, the kinetic movement of flowing water and critical minerals".
Trudeau's government has unveiled a more detailed list of US imports, worth C$30bn ($21bn), that would be subject to retaliatory tariffs, to be followed by an additional C$125bn of products later this month.
Trump, who imposed a lower, 10pc, tariff on imports from China, said today that imports from that country would be subject to higher taxes soon. But he added, "I will be speaking to China probably over the next 24 hours."
Trump today again proposed a joint US-China ownership of social media platform TikTok, the latest of many issues that divide the two countries. He also repeated his allegation that China "is involved with the Panama Canal" and that the US would wrest back control over the waterway.
In addition to pushback over tariffs, Trump today faced harsh criticism from Democratic lawmakers after he ordered the shutdown of the US Agency for International Development, which is responsible for disbursing US humanitarian aid and carrying out development programs globally. Senior Democratic lawmakers joined the staff of the agency in front of its headquarters, where security guards were preventing anyone from entering.
"I love the concept [of that agency], but they turned out to be radical left lunatics," Trump said.
