Mexico City, Mexico – U.S. President Donald Trump announced Thursday his decision to delay enacting 25% tariffs he had threatened to levy on Mexican and Canadian goods, while both North American neighbors had previously announced planned retaliatory taxes in response.
Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum held a telephone call on Thursday morning before Trump’s announcement. Through social media, the U.S. president said his decision to put off tariffs until April 2 came as an accommodation and out of “respect” for Sheinbaum.
During her morning press briefing, President Sheinbaum thanked Trump for respecting the Mexican people.
“Honestly, I want to say that we were treated with a lot of respect. I say ‘we’ because it was directed to the President of Mexico, but it’s for the people of Mexico because I represent the Mexican people. Everything we always raise this month, and we will always raise it out of conviction, is that collaboration is possible, coordination is possible, and we can do many things together, always within the framework of respect for our sovereignty,” she said.
The Mexican President stated that Trump’s decision heeded the accomplishments secured by her administration in terms of national and border security, which have translated into a diminished flow of drugs such as fentanyl across the U.S. border.
During her briefing, Sheinbaum presented to journalists a graph with data pulled from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), which depicted a notable decrease of 70% of fentanyl shipments in U.S territory from October 2024 – when Sheinbaum’s term began – to date.
“Only in February, the reduction in fentanyl seizures on the U.S. side of the border with Mexico decreased by 41.5%. He wasn’t aware of this graph until we sent it to him, and I also explained it to him,” said Sheinbaum.
She also discussed some pressures outside of Mexico-U.S. political and security relations that could have also impacted Trump’s decisions – such as markets.
“Remember that the day the tariffs were announced, the stock market in the United States dropped, and there were also many American businessmen who said it wasn’t in their interest and did their own work to talk to President Trump. Clearly, everything influences, and I believe our relationship based on respect also plays a role,” added Sheinbaum.
Featured image credit: via White House in Instagram
