When President Trump approached the phone with President Claudia Sheinbaum from Mexico on Thursday morning, he was firm: the tariffs were inevitable.
“Tariffs stay,” Mrs. Sheinbaum quoted Mr. Trump, recounting a conversation at a press conference hours later.
But the Mexican president pressed her case. She sent Mr. Trump a table that shows a sudden drop in the seizure of the fental on the United States-Mexico border and told him that Tariff would make it difficult to keep security cooperation, which she said, “giving results.”
By the end of the call, Mr. Trump relented, he agreed to suspend tariffs on Mexican goods.
On social media, Mr. Trump announced that at least until April 2, Mexico will not need to pay tariffs to everything that is under the main pact of North America’s trade. He later expanded the same break to Canada, reversing a huge 25 percent of tariff, which he hit the export of both countries earlier this week.
“We succeeded,” Mrs. Sheinbaum said.
The decision represented a huge victory for Mexico leader and a much needed incentive for the slow economy of the country.
Mrs. Sheinbaum herself acknowledged that there were several forces that Mr Trump might have made to withdraw the measures, citing business leaders who called on the White House to change the course, a negative reaction in the US markets and the progress of her country on Fentanil and Migration.
However, the suspension also reflected the success of Mrs. Sheinbaum’s soft touch strategy in serving Mr. Trump’s theater attacks and somehow against significant chances, earning his admiration for the public.
“I did it as accommodation and out of respect for President Sheinbaum,” Mr. Trump wrote on Thursday about TRUTH Social. “Our relationship was very good.”
He added, “Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!”
Mrs. Sheinbaum’s answer was equally warm. “A big thank you to President Donald Trump. We had a great and respected invitation,” she said in a post on X, promising to continue working together “especially for migration and security problems.”
Unlike Prime Minister Justin TRUDEAUAU from Canada, who aggressively responded to Mr. Trump’s attacks on his country, Mrs. Sheinbaum was reserved, deciding quietly through return channels rather than trading public insults.
While Canada and China quickly announced retaliation measures after the US tariffs hit this week, Mexico was maintained, refraining from what was considered a possible provocation, while the contract is still possible.
Experts who evaluate the value of this subtle approach noted that Canada achieved the same results as Mexico. But they admit that Mrs. Sheinbaum was skilful to avoid the stab of a punishment that Mr. Trump visited on Mr. Trudeauu, which would be even more withdrawal in her swing as she enters her sixth month.
“Her strategy is not in provocation, to be coolhead,” said Carlos Bravo Regido, an analyst based in Mexico City. “So far so good.”
Mr. Bravo Regidor noted that Mrs. Sheinbaum also played well her domestic audience, constantly reminding the public that Mexico had given a priority to his sovereignty and that he did not bear anyone. The ratings of her approval shot more than 75 percent, Show polls.
At the same time, she seemed to find a way to connect with Mr. Trump at some level.
Mrs. Sheinbaum scored about “Dear” Mr. Trump towards Mexico at her press conference on Thursday. Mr. Trump called her a “wonderful woman.”
On Wednesday, the day before their phone call, she seemed to recover from the initial shock that spread across Mexico after it became clear to impose imports of imported customs. She switched in a crisis, calling this a “final moment” for the earth and drawing a comparison with a devastating Pandemia Coid-19.
She called for patience, suggesting – properly, it turned out – that things could still change, and at the same time persuading national solidarity.
Earlier in the week, Mrs. Sheinbaum called for a national protest in response to Tariffs in Mexico City on Sunday, when she also planned to publish Mexico’s response to Mr. Trump’s move.
On Thursday, Mrs. Sheinbaum said the event would continue to happen, despite Mr. Trump’s latest decision. Until then, she called him the “Festival”, with music groups.
Miguel Muñoz, director of Mexico in Geodis, a global logistics company, said many Mexican exporters took access to waiting and watching this week, taking their signs from the president and “not raising their finger” before Mrs. Sheinbaum with Mr. Trump.
Thursday seemed to be right.
“What applauds the Chamber of Commerce,” said Mr. Muñoz, “the way the president solved it.”
On April 2, when the United States plan to impose reciprocal tariffs to all countries, Mexico will be included, according to Mrs. Scheinbaum. But she said “in the case of Mexico, almost everything without tariff,” because of the main trade agreement in North America. “We do not charge them tariffs, nor do they charge us tariffs.”
But there were questions about what would happen in April.
In Canada, the suspension failed to raise a sense of darkness and an anxiety mood of the business community. The announcement followed only a few hours after Mr. Trudeau warned Canadians that the country would be closed to a trade war with the United States “in the foreseeable future”.
“The result of Canada is that there is no threat to tariffs,” said Dennis Darby, president of Canadian manufacturers and exporters, industrial groups.
Mr. Darby noted that the president did not offer any guarantee that he would stop separate tariffs of steel and aluminum, which should be imposed next week. And it remains unclear how exactly Mr. Trump will manage the reciprocal tariffs he promised to impose every country on April 2.
Dominic Leblanc, Minister of Finance in Canada, said that after the break of Mr. Trump Canada, he suspended plans to impose another round of retribution.
Doug Ford, the prime minister of the most populous province in Canada, Ontario, rejected the suspension. “This whole thing with President Trump is a mess,” Mr. Ford told reporters. “We went that way before. It’s still threatening tariffs on April 2.”
Paulina Villegas contribute to reporting from Mexico City and Ian Austen From Windsor, Ontario.
