President Trump said Thursday that he would offer an exemption from a month of prices for imports from Mexico, which exchange under the rules of the American-mexico-Canada agreement, the commercial pact he signed during his first mandate.
The president wrote on Truth Social that he would give Mexican products an exemption until April 2 of the 25% prices that he levied from all the products in Mexico and most of Canada’s goods earlier this week. The exemption will cover the vast majority of North American commerce and follow the agitation days on the stock markets.
“After talking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay prices on all that relates to the USMCA agreement,” he wrote.
“Our relationship was very good, and we work hard, together, at the border, both to prevent illegal foreigners from entering the United States and, in the same way, from stopping fentanyl,” he added.
Howard Lunick, the trade secretary, made similar comments Thursday morning, saying that the president would most likely exempt all the products that are negotiated under the announcement of the USMCA Mr. Trump did not describe any exemption for Canadian goods.
The stocks pushed higher after Mr. Lunick spoke but remained lower for the day, the S&P 500 down approximately 1%. The change would considerably broaden an exception of one month that Mr. Trump offered yesterday to car manufacturers which import goods under the rules of the pact, which did not succeed in investors’ hopes.
Trump and Mr. Lutnick suggested that any relief of the prices could be short -lived, because the administration is considering another series of samples next month. The president said that he would announce “reciprocal” prices on April 2, which would increase American rates to correspond to the levels set by other countries, while taking into account other practices that affect trade, such as taxes and money.
“I expect the president to come to the agreement today, and I hope that we will announce this today, that the goods in accordance with the USMCA will not have a price for next month, until April 2,” said Mr. Lutnick. Trump signed the USMCA in 2020 to replace and revise the North American free trade agreement.
