The United States has said that all goods compliant with its sweeping 2020 deal with Canada and Mexico will probably be granted a one-month reprieve from tariffs in a major climbdown for President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade agenda.
The second policy shift in two days came after Mr Trump said on Wednesday that carmakers compliant with US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) would be granted a month-long carve-out from the 25 per cent tariffs his administration imposed on America’s two biggest trading partners earlier this week.
The imposition of the levies on Tuesday prompted a turbulent market reaction after Canada and Mexico announced retaliatory measures. Earlier this week, all the S&P 500’s post-election gains were erased, before a slight recovery.
“It’s likely that it will cover all USMCA-compliant goods and services, so that which is part of President Trump’s deal with Canada and Mexico, are likely to get an exemption from these tariffs,” commerce secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Thursday. “The reprieve is for one month.”
Shortly after Mr Lutnick’s comments, Mr Trump confirmed the tariff relief for Mexico on his Truth Social platform.
“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. This agreement is until April 2nd.”
He did not mention relief for Canada, instead claiming that “Justin Trudeau is using the tariff problem, which he has largely caused, in order to run again for prime minister”.
US goods and services trade under the USMCA totalled about $1.8 trillion (€1.66 billion) in 2022, according to the US trade representative.
The US shift came just hours after data showed the US trade deficit swelled in January to a record $131.4 billion, from a $98.1 billion deficit in December. Economists said the increase was due at least in part to companies rushing to stockpile goods before the imposition of tariffs.
“My expectation is the president will come to the agreement today that USMCA-compliant goods will not have a tariff for the next month until April 2nd,” Mr Lutnick said.
He added that he hoped Canada and Mexico would by then have made sufficient progress on Mr Trump’s demand that they crack down on trafficking of the deadly opioid drug fentanyl.
If so, he said, “this part of the conversation will be off the table and it will move just to the reciprocal tariff conversation”.
Mr Trump has said he plans to impose so-called reciprocal tariffs on trading partners from April 2nd to retaliate against taxes, levies, regulations and subsidies that Washington considers unfair.
Mr Lutnick’s comments sparked gains in the Canadian and Mexican currencies. The Canadian dollar rose 0.4 per cent to C$1.4282 against the US dollar. The Mexican peso rallied 0.7 per cent to 20.24 against the dollar.
US stocks also sharply cut their losses on Thursday morning, with the broad S&P 500 down about 0.8 per cent from a fall of as much as 1.6 per cent. - Co–yright The Financial Times Limited 2025
