Mexico’s president has announced a huge update to the tariff imposed upon her country by Donald Trump after coming to an agreement with the US president.
Trump announced the tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China on January 31, implementing a 25 percent additional tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, and a 10 percent additional tariff on imports from China.
The tariffs came a bid to tackle what the White House dubbed an 'extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl', with a press release indicating that they would be in place 'until the crisis is alleviated'.
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"President Trump is taking bold action to hold Mexico, Canada, and China accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country," the White House statement read.
The news of the tariffs has sparked controversy, with Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, herself hitting back at suggestions that her government was actually working with drug cartels.
In a post on Twitter, Sheinbaum wrote: "We categorically reject the White House’s slanderous claim that the Mexico government has alliances with criminal organisations, as well as any attempt to intervene in our territory. If there is anywhere that such an alliance in fact exists, it is in the United States gun factories that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups.”
After her initial frustration, the president has announced that her country has now come to a 'series of agreements' with Trump after the two leaders engaged in a 'good conversation' with 'great respect for [their] relationship and sovereignty'.
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As part of these agreements, Sheinbaum announced on Twitter, is a one-month 'pause' on the tariff against her country, starting from today (February 3).
The 'pause' comes as Mexico has promised to 'immediately reinforce the northern border with 10,000 members of the National Guard' in a bid to crack down on drug trafficking into the US.
In exchange, Sheinbaum wrote, the US will be 'committed to working to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico'.
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Another agreement made between Sheinbaum and Trump includes a collaboration on security and trade.
The decision to pause tariffs comes after governors of Mexico’s 31 states and Mexico City all came together on a joint statement which hit back at the claim that its government was linked to cartels.
The statement, signed by multiple politicians, read: “We energetically condemn the accusations that suggest there is a link between our government and narco-trafficking cartels. These claims are not only baseless, they also ignore the major, verifiable efforts Mexico has made to combat organised crime.”
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, Money, Mexico, US News
Emily Brown