Trump pauses some Mexico, Canada tariffs: What’s exempt, and what’s next?

About half of Mexico’s exports to the US, and a little more than a third of Canada’s, will be exempt for a month.

United States President Donald Trump, on Thursday, paused tariffs on several imports from Mexico and Canada for a month. Earlier, he had imposed 25 percent tariffs on almost all imports from both countries.

He first announced a halt on the tariffs for Mexico after a phone call with that country’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum. Later, he extended that reprieve to Canada.

Here is what happened, which products the pause applies to and what comes next:

On Thursday, Trump signed orders temporarily exempting goods from Mexico and Canada that are covered by the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA) from the 25 percent tariffs. The order suspending tariffs took effect at 05:01 GMT on Friday.

These tariffs had kicked in on Tuesday, a month after Trump had first announced 25 percent tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10 percent tariffs on imports from China, in February. The tariffs were initially supposed to come into force on February 4, but Trump had postponed them by a month following negotiations with Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.