Until April 2

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Trucks at the border between the USA and Mexico

(Bild: GUILLERMO ARIAS)

The White House has largely suspended tariffs on goods from Mexico for the time being. This was announced by US President Donald Trump on Thursday on the online platform Truth Social.

All imports covered by the North American Free Trade Agreement are affected - until April 2. The White House had already surprisingly suspended the punitive tariffs against goods from Mexico for a month at the beginning of February. Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum reported at the time that she had had a "good conversation" with Trump.

The Republican spoke to Sheinbaum on the phone again this time. He had granted the postponement out of "respect and accommodation", he said. They are now working together to prevent migrants from illegally crossing the border into the United States and to stop the smuggling of the chemical drug fentanyl.

The US President had previously imposed a 25 percent tariff on imports from neighboring Mexico and Canada and a 10 percent tariff on energy imports from Canada. Imports from China are subject to a 20 percent levy, while products from the EU are to be subject to a 25 percent levy. Trump had justified the levies by claiming, among other things, that Mexico and Canada were not doing enough to combat cross-border drug trafficking.

Negotiating tactics for concessions
The US President regularly uses tariff threats as a negotiating tactic to force concessions in other areas. This was already the case during his first term in office (2017 to 2021).

The North America Free Trade Agreement was signed by the USA, Mexico and Canada at that time. Whether the White House will also be able to suspend tariffs on Canadian goods again for the time being is questionable. Canada's government has already responded with counter-tariffs of the same amount, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that the tariff dispute will continue.