The US and Mexico agree to pause tariffs for a month

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said President Trump have agreed to pause tariffs after a phone conversation.

According to AP News, the Mexican leader said she agreed to send 10,000 National Guard agents to the border to increase drug trafficking control.

The exchange came just hours before President Trump's tariff imposition came into effect and after a series of escalating declarations and tension between the two countries.

President Trump's 25% sweeping tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico prompted Sheinbaum to initially respond with similar threats.

After saying she preferred dialogue, according to CNN, the president said the country would resort to an alternative plan: retaliatory tariffs in response to Trump's decision.

“I instruct the Secretary of Economy to implement the “plan B” that we have been working on, which includes tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico’s interests,” Sheinbaum said in a post on X.

However, the details of which type of tariffs could have been applied and which products would be taxed are still unknown.

President Trump justified the tariffs by arguing that Mexico enables fentanyl to go through the border. However, he did not clarify what his government would require from Mexico to cut the duties back.

In a press conference, Sheinbaum vehemently denied the accusations and flipped the script on the Trump Administration, accusing the US Government of doing very little to face their drug consumption health crisis.

Sheinbaum also launched accusations: “If there is any alliance, it is in the United States gun stores that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups.”

The Mexican Government is in the middle of a lawsuit against American gun manufacturers for allowing distributors to sell criminal organizations heavy-duty weapons and guns across the border, which they smuggle into Mexico.

The Mexican president did not clarify what she meant by "non-tariff measures," but her country has a vital position for Trump's deportation policies—especially accepting immigrants from third countries.

Sheinbaum also stressed that border crossings have dramatically decreased in recent months. "My team made the graph with crossing reductions that President Trump posted on his social media," she said, according to El Pais.

According to the BBC, the Mexican President also said that problems should not be solved with blunt tariff impositions but "with dialog and coordination."

The tariffs will have an inflationary effect on the US economy. Mexico is the country's largest foreign supplier of fruits and vegetables. The automotive industry will also suffer.

“Nothing by force, everything by reason and law,” Sheinbaum said, quoting historic Mexican President Benito Juárez. “Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace.”

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