Trump folds under pressure, pauses tariffs on Mexico and Canada



As recently as Friday, as the White House moved forward with plans to impose tariffs against the United States’ three largest trading partners, a reporter asked Donald Trump if there was any chance his foreign targets could convince him to delay the policy.

“No, no,” the president replied. “Not right now, no.”

A day later, the president announced that he was, in fact, imposing 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico — despite a 2018 trade deal that he helped negotiate, which seemed to prohibit such a move — as well as 10% tariffs on China.

On Sunday, Trump conceded that American consumers might feel “some pain“ as a result of agenda, and on Monday morning, the major Wall Street indexes showed sharp and immediate declines. Hours later, as NBC News reported, the president paused much of his policy on tariffs.

The impacts of Donald Trump’s long-promised pledge to use tariffs as a political cudgel started to come into focus Monday, even as the president cut last-minute deals with some of the country’s closest allies allowing him to back down from his initial threats.

The first breakthrough of sorts was announced in the morning, when Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that she’d reached a temporary agreement with Trump administration, in which she’d deploy 10,000 members of the Mexican national guard to the border.

Republicans tripped over each other to suggest Trump had scored a triumph for the ages. “Democrats and members of the media, take note,” House Speaker Mike Johnson boasted online. “President Trump knows how to get results.” Elon Musk added, “At this rate of achievement, not only should President Donald Trump be on Mount Rushmore, I want to personally work the chisel!”

Whether GOP leaders and their megadonors understand this or not, Mexico really just offered Trump more of the same. Indeed, as The New Republic noted, Mexico sent 15,000 troops to the border in 2019, and sent 10,000 again in 2021. Or put another way, Sheinbaum agreed to do what her country has already done in recent years. (Note, when our southern neighbors agreed to do this during Joe Biden’s presidency, it was the result of effective diplomacy, not threats.)

Hours later, the Republican president announced that he was also delaying his plan related to Canada, following a phone meeting in which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as Trump put it, agreed to “implement their $1.3 Billion Border plan.”

The wording was of interest. Trump didn’t say Canada announced a plan, and he didn’t say Canada has come up with a new plan. Rather, he said Canada will implement their plan.

If the phrasing made it sound as if there was already a plan in place before Trump started threatening our neighbor and ally, that’s because the plan that Canada is implementing was announced during the Biden administration.

All of which leaves us with a fairly obvious conclusion: Trump picked a fight, faced pressure, saw stock market declines, and caved in exchange for effectively nothing, sparking a new round of international headlines about the American president being a “paper tiger.”

Of course, if the Republican is pausing his punitive measures related to Canada and Mexico, what about China? NBC News reported that officials in Beijing “retaliated immediately” to the White House’s move, “announcing a series of measures including its own levies of 10% to 15% on some U.S. products.” The report added, “The failure to forestall tit-for-tat tariffs with China raises the risk of a spiraling trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.”

It’s hard to say with confidence when or whether Trump will fold again. Watch this space.




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