U.S. President Donald Trump. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

By KELIN DILLON

One month after assuming office, U.S. President Donald Trump affirmed that he would be making good on his threat to implement a 25 percent tariff on Mexican goods beginning April 2, he announced on Wednesday, Feb. 26.

“I’m not going to stop tariffs against Mexico,” said Trump at the time. “I think we’re going to see something incredible. They’ve taken advantage of us for a long time.”

The U.S. federal executive noted he would have preferred to set them into effect on April 1 but is “ a little superstitious” and therefore hesitant to put the economic sanctions in place on April Fool’s Day, especially if it could be perceived as a “joke announcement.”

Trump originally planned to begin the tariffs on Feb. 2 but decided to delay their implementation until March 4 following an in-depth discussion with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (CSP), which resulted in 10,000 Mexican National Guard troops being deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Now, Trump will reportedly push the tariffs forward another month, though he nor the U.S. government has confirmed whether they are delayed to allow additional time for negotiation or to reshape the tariffs as part of the United States’ new reciprocal tariff program

According to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, if Mexico can prove it has halted the flow of fentanyl into the United States, as discussed between Sheinbaum and Trump, the U.S. federal executive will “give them a break” on the tariffs.

Still, Trump’s statements refuted Lutnick, saying that “the damage is done; we’ve lost millions of people to fentanyl.”

In response, Mexican Secretary of the Economy Marcelo Ebrard will travel to Washington D.C. on Thursday, Feb. 27, to continue negotiating with the United States before the new April deadline. 

Trump’s 25 percent tariffs will also affect Canada and the European Union on April 2.