U.S. President Donald Trump said his plan to impose a tariff on Mexican goods has been suspended indefinitely after the two countries reached an agreement that would see America’s southern neighbour take “strong measures to stem the tide of migration” to its border.
Trump’s announcement came via a pair of tweets on Friday night.
The announcement came one week after Trump vowed a five per cent tariff on all goods from Mexico in an effort to keep asylum seekers from entering the U.S. via its southern border.
The tariffs were expected to take effect on June 10, and increase to as much as 25 per cent on Oct. 1 if Mexico didn’t act to help stem migration.
READ MORE: Trump vows 5% tariff on all goods from Mexico in bid to stop migrants
Details of the deal were released Friday by the U.S. State Department.
According to the “U.S.-Mexico Joint Declaration,” Mexico has agreed to take more migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. while they await adjudication of their cases, and will take “unprecedented steps to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration.”
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the National Guard deployment would begin Monday.
“I think it’s a fair balance,” he said in Washington.
WATCH: Mexico to curb irregular migration after reaching deal with U.S. on suspending tariffs
The two countries will discuss further steps in continued discussions over the next 90 days, according to the declaration.
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Earlier Friday, Trump tweeted there was a “good chance” that the U.S. would reach a deal with Mexico on migration.
“If we are able to make the deal with Mexico, and there is a good chance that we will, they will begin purchasing farm and agricultural products at very high levels, starting immediately,” he said.
WATCH: June 3 — Trump doubles down on tariff threat as Mexico tries to negotiate with U.S.
Numerous Republican Party members opposed the tariff and urged Trump to either consider them further or postpone them.
They expressed concern about the harm that the tariff might pose for American consumers.
READ MORE: ‘Lot of progress’ needed to prevent 5% tariff on Mexico — Trump
An analysis published by the Brookings Institution last week said that the tariff would have proven costly, both for Mexico and the United States.
U.S. importers could have been hit because the regional value chains that exist around the U.S.-Mexico border see production processes that “often involve intermediate inputs moving back and forth” numerous times before a product reaches a consumer, wrote fellow Geoffrey Gertz.
Had the tariff reached 25 per cent, then it would have “rippled through the broader U.S. economy,” he wrote.
WATCH: May 31 — The auto sector may be impacted most by Mexico tariffs
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard tweeted that there would be no tariffs applied by the U.S. on Monday.
Tweeting in Spanish, he thanked everyone who had supported the government in its negotiations.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement thanking Ebrard for his “hard work to negotiate a set of joint obligations that benefit bot the United States and Mexico.”
“The United States looks forward to working alongside Mexico to fulfil these commitments so that we can stem the tide of illegal migration across our southern border and to make our border strong and secure,” he said in a statement tweeted by CBS News reporter Christina Ruffini.
Mexico has agreed to take in more migrants who have sought asylum in the U.S. as they wait for their cases to be adjudicated, and to crack down on groups known for human smuggling, said a joint declaration.
Mexico had previously committed to deploying as many as 6,000 National Guard troops to its own southern border with Guatemala.
- With files from Kerri Breen, Reuters and the Associated Press
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