 "Trump delays Mexico, Canada tariffs again. What’s going on? No one knows")
They are on, they are off — we aren’t talking about a relationship but about US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
On Thursday (March 6), the US president signed executive actions that delayed some tariffs on its allies, Mexico and Canada, for one month. What makes this particularly interesting is that this is the second time in two days that Trump has rolled back his taxes on imports.
The actions come after Trump held a discussion with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and negotiations between Canadian and Trump administration officials.
The move has led both Canada and Mexico to breathe a little easier, but it’s also causing serious whiplash — with businesses complaining that this back-and-forth over tariffs is frustrating and stressful. As Trevor Frampton, who owns a feed and pet supply store in Santa Rosa, California told CNN, “Tariffs are on and then they’re off again. I can’t keep up with it. It’s the uncertainty of everything. Is it going to happen? If it is, just do it. Personally, I think it’s stupid.”
Trump halts tariffs for Canada and Mexico, for now
Early on Thursday morning, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum held a talk with Trump, in an attempt to avert the 25 per cent tariffs he had imposed on her country’s exports earlier in the week. It was on March 4 that tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China took effect, with an instant trade war breaking out.
It seems that Sheinbaum’s talk with Trump helped; the US president posted on social media, “After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement.” The USMCA is the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, negotiated by Trump during his first term, which makes the three North American countries a free trade zone. He said that tariffs would be delayed until April 2.
“I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum. Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the border, both in terms of stopping illegal aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping fentanyl,” Trump added. “Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!”
Sheinbaum, in a post on X, thanked US President Donald Trump for a “respectful” discussion about the tariffs he imposed.
Hours after the pause on Mexican tariffs, Trump signed a similar executive, delaying Canadian tariffs until April 2. Earlier, the US president had attacked Justin Trudeau, claiming he was “using the tariff problem” to stay in office. Shortly after Trump’s decision, Canadian Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc wrote on X that his country “will not proceed with the second wave of tariffs on $125 billion of US products until April 2nd, while we continue to work for the removal of all tariffs.”
It’s important to note that Trump hasn’t paused all tariffs — but only those goods covered by the North American trade agreement known as USMCA. According to CNN, this agreement covers about 50 per cent of imports from Mexico and 36 per cent of imports from Canada.
Trump’s back-and-forth on tariffs
Thursday’s pause on tariffs for Mexico and Canada is just the latest chapter. It can be dated back to as far as last October while Trump was campaigning for the US presidential elections. At the Economic Club of Chicago, Trump voiced enthusiasm for tariffs. “To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is ‘tariff’,” he said.
On November 25, 2024, he followed this up by announcing plans to place 25 per cent tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico, citing an alleged failure to secure their respective borders with the US. Trump also said he would put 10 per cent tariffs on goods from China, calling on the country to stop production of illegal fentanyl bound for the US.
Then this February 1, the US president ordered 25 per cent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, as well as 10 per cent tariffs on imports from China with the White House saying the tariffs would take effect on February 4. However, two days later, Trump announced a one-month pause of tariffs on Canada and Mexico after reaching agreements with each country that included commitments to bolster border enforcement.
On March 3, Trump then announced that he would go ahead with the previously planned tariffs and they would come into effect the following day. This led to retaliation from Canada and China , leading to a near-instant trade war. In his address to the US Congress , Trump also referred to the tariffs, saying, “There will be a little disturbance, but we are OK with that. It won’t be much.”
Two days later, on March 5, he ordered a one-month delay of auto tariffs after a request from the ‘Big 3’ US automakers: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the parent company of Jeep and Chrysler.
Uncertainty continues
Trump’s on-again, off-again policy with tariffs has caused a great deal of confusion and uncertainty for businesses not only in Canada and Mexico but in the US itself. It has also led to a stock market slump.
Officials involved in the negotiations over tariffs have expressed their frustration over the lack of clarity from the Trump administration. It’s like “dealing with an angry partner and you don’t know what they’re mad about,” one Mexican official was quoted telling Reuters. “It’s not clear what they want.”
Canada’s Foreign Minister Melania Joly was openly critical of the Trump administration. “We won’t get through this, another psychodrama every 30 days,” she said earlier in the week.
“The problem we’ve had is it’s not clear what the American president wants,” she added. “I’ve had conversations with colleagues in Washington saying, ‘Okay, but at the end of the day, what do you guys want?’ And I got the answer, ‘We’re about to know.’ There’s one decision maker in the system. He’s the only one to know’.”
Even economic experts note that this uncertainty isn’t good for the economy. Wolfe Research analyst Tobin Marcus said to CNBC, “After three consecutive days of major tariff expansion or retraction, we have to ask: What was all this for? In Trump’s statement announcing the delay, he didn’t point to any specific further concessions from Sheinbaum on either fentanyl or trade, even though there are some policy shifts he might reasonably have hoped to achieve, as we noted on Monday,” he wrote. “Sheinbaum’s midday post also did not point to any specific policy commitments beyond general continued cooperation on migration, fentanyl, and guns.”
Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University, also said that there’s a lot of uncertainty. “It creates an enormous amount of uncertainty for multinational companies that sell products worldwide, that import from the rest of the world, that run these complex supply chains through multiple countries. The uncertainty is going to be very unsettling for businesses and … it will hurt business investment.”
And business owners are also frustrated. They don’t know what the future holds for them and have been left exasperated as they are unable to make any business plans. Take, for instance, Taylor Samuels, the owner of Las Almas Rotas, a bar and restaurant in Dallas. The spectre of tariffs is forcing him to review his plans to build a new restaurant.
Holly Seidewand, owner of First Fill Spirits, a shop in Saratoga Springs, New York, that sells Canadian whisky and other specialty spirits, told AP that her plans for the future have been put on hold due to the tariffs. Her original plan for 2025 was to almost double her inventory and the selection she offered. “For now, we have no plans of adding more shelving or space for new items, we will stick to the footprint we have,” she said. “This will delay the growth of our business, making us a bit stagnant.’’
All of this uncertainty is also causing consumer confidence to tumble, which has caused consumer spending to decline in January the most in nearly four years. Private-sector hiring has also slowed sharply in February.
With tariffs, Trump has kept the world guessing and we will all have to wait until April 2 when he has vowed to introduce reciprocal tariffs .
With inputs from agencies
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