The U.S. president praised Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum but slighted Canada's Justin Trudeau while making the announcement.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — U.S. President Donald Trump announced Thursday afternoon that he was giving Mexico and Canada a 30-day reprieve on a 25 percent export tariffs for goods covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on free trade, but his announcement did not include Canada by name.
“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,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
Trump said he gave Mexico a reprieve as an “accommodation” and “out of respect for” Sheinbaum.
“Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl. Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!”
About an hour after Trump’s tariff social media post, reports came in that Canada would also be included in the tariff reprieve until April 2.
Instead of mentioning Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by name, however, an hour before he posted that he respects Mexico’s leadership, Trump instead blasted Trudeau for “largely causing” the tariff issue.
“Believe it or not, despite the terrible job he’s done for Canada, I think that Justin Trudeau is using the Tariff problem, which he has largely caused, in order to run again for Prime Minister. So much fun to watch!” Trump wrote.
On Monday, Trump, citing lack of action on drug trafficking as the main reason, imposed 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican exports that went into effect on March 4, until the reprieve came later today.
Immediately on Tuesday after Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, all of the country’s premiers, including Danielle Smith of Alberta, announced that U.S. alcohol would be banned from liquor stores. Ontario Premier Doug Ford went as far as ordering all the booze cleared from shelves.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Trump revealed the details of a recent phone call with Trudeau and accused the Canadian leader of using the tariff dispute between the two nations as a reason to “stay in power.”
