Mexico City, Mexico – On the brink of a trade war with her largest commercial partner, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday was able to pause a 25% tariff on Mexican imports into the U.S. which was announced on Saturday by President Donald Trump.
In exchange, Sheinbaum promised to send 10,000 National Guard troops to the border to prevent drug trafficking.
On Monday morning, Sheinbaum shared on her X account that Trump had compromised and paused the tariffs for 30 days, given that her administration pledged to send troops to the border to curb drug smuggling, particularly fentanyl.
Welcomed by a round of applause on her morning briefing, President Sheinbaum said that after a “long” phone call with President Trump hours before, both leaders had committed to putting a temporary halt on the tariffs while pledging to create joint task teams to tackle security and trade.
“It is a matter of working together to coordinate without losing our sovereignty concerning our territories and our scope of action, and he agreed that we should set up this working group to put this plan of action in the framework of our sovereignty that would give results,” she said.
According to Sheinbaum, Trump made commitments of his own and allegedly vowed to hamper the flow of guns into Mexico. According to the Secretariat of Foreign Relations, “70-90% of traced firearms originated from and passed through the US,” as per the Wilson Center.
“And we asked him that the United States would also help our country to prevent the trafficking of weapons from the United States to Mexico – He agreed,” said Sheinbaum.
In a post of his own on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump did not mention curbing the illegal import of firearms from the US into Mexico, and the Republican leader – who is backed by gun lobbyists – rolled back controls on international gun sales during his first term as president, potentially bringing into question his commitment to stopping the so-called “iron river” of guns into the hands of Mexican cartels.
Allocating additional National Guard troops to Mexico’s northern border could also have grave human rights consequences.
In recent years, with pressure from the US to curb migrant flows northward, Mexico has taken a more militaristic approach to migration policy. In the first month of Shienbaum’s administration, 10 immigrants have allegedly been killed by the military in two separate instances. In both instances, the military said they mistook the migrants as members of criminal groups.
Read more: 2 Colombians killed by Mexican National Guard in Baja California
On the brink of a trade war
On Saturday, the Trump administration announced that it would impose a 25% tariff on imports from its closest trade partners in Mexico and Canada, and a 10% tariff on imports from China – with some exclusions for oil and energy imports.
He used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to take the extraordinary measure, saying that the countries weren’t pulling their weight to help stop the flow of immigrants and drugs – particularly fentanyl – into the US.
He accused Mexico’s government of having an “intolerable alliance” with drug cartels. Sheinbaum immediately condemned the “slanderous” comments and said her administration would carry on “tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico’s interests.”
Tensions with China and other factors led to Mexico becoming the United States’ largest trading partner in 2024, exporting over USD $450 billion in value to its northern neighbor.
The commercial relationship set by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) – signed in 2018 during Trump’s first term – has resulted in a deficit favoring Mexico, much to Trump’s distress.
Sheinbaum’s deal, so far, has forestalled any economic calamity. However, the threat of tariffs looms and the two countries will continue to negotiate favorable conditions for both sides.
