Inbound trucks from Mexico at the World Trade Crossing International Bridge in Laredo, Texas. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said March 6 that he has postponed 25% tariffs on most goods from Mexico for a month after a conversation with President Claudia Sheinbaum.

Trump’s announcement comes after his Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, said tariffs on both Canada and Mexico would “likely” be delayed. This is the second one-month postponement Trump has announced since first unveiling the import taxes in early February. The reprieve would apply to goods that are compliant with the trade agreement Trump negotiated with Canada and Mexico in his first term.

“We are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl,” Trump said on Truth Social.

Also March 6, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated that he expects his country will be in a trade war with the United States for the foreseeable future.

Trudeau said the broader month-long pause “aligns with some of the conversations that we have been having with administration officials.”

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The Canadian leader said the move by the Trump administration was a “promising sign,” but it also “means that the tariffs remain in place and therefore our response will remain in place.”

Lutnick also said in the interview that if the two countries don’t make enough progress limiting the shipment of fentanyl into the United States, the 25% tariffs could be reapplied in a month as well.

“Hopefully we will announce this today — USMCA-compliant goods will not have a tariff for the next month until April 2nd,” Lutnick said. “Hopefully Mexico and Canada will have done a good enough job on fentanyl that this part of the conversation will be off the table, and we’ll move just to the reciprocal tariff conversation. But if they haven’t, this will stay on.”

Mexico and Canada have “done a good job offering us ever more work” to show that they are moving to combat shipments of fentanyl, a key demand Trump has made in return for permanently removing the 25% duties.

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But Lutnick suggested that the number of U.S. fentanyl overdose deaths will be the key metric the administration will focus on when determining whether Canada and Mexico have done enough.

“We need to see fentanyl deaths decline, that is the metric I am focused on,” he said.