President Donald Trump said in a tweet Friday evening that Mexico and the U.S. have reached an agreement to avoid the threatened 5% tariff implementation.
U.S. and Mexican government officials met several times during June 4-6 to discuss and possibly head off looming tariffs on Mexico imports that were threatened to go into effect June 10. President Trump announced plans May 30 to impose 5% tariffs on all Mexican imports as of June 10, with tariffs ratcheting up to 25% each month if Mexico did not stop the flow of Central Americans into the U.S.
"The tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended," Trump wrote on Twitter in a pair of tweets. "Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measures to ... stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our southern border."
While President Trump was away, a Mexican team lead by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard negotiated all week with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and lower-ranking officials to try to accommodate Trump's concerns. Ebrard also announced on Twitter a deal had been reached and details would be coming Friday evening.
While it is unclear at this time what the deal is, Mexico announced Friday it planned to send 6,000 troops from its newly formed National Guard to the country's southern border with Guatemala, a move aimed at cutting off the flow of migrants bound for the U.S. border.
Also, Mexico pledged to step up its fight against smugglers by cracking down on their routes.
In a tweet Friday afternoon, President Trump said if an agreement can be forged with Mexico it would include increased farm and agricultural product purchases as part of any deal. However, in Trump’s announcement Friday night it did not offer any additional information regarding increased agricultural purchases.
