The one-month pause in the collection of 25% tariffs on Mexican products by the United States is “a good sign to buy time,” which reflects the willingness of the governments of both countries to negotiate, considered Alfredo Careaga , Business Development Director of THB Mexico , who said that there could be an extended pause in the eventual tariff measure.
“I think what happened this week, despite the threat of tariffs, an agreement was reached; a postponement is a good sign that there is a willingness on both sides to negotiate,” he stressed.
In an interview with T21 , the specialist indicated that the President of the United States, Donald Trump , is very prone to threaten, so the various sectors must be alert and understand that “one thing is what he says and another is what he actually does.”
Careaga said that the behavior of the American president generates economic uncertainty among businessmen , although he considered that in the commercial area Mexico can “do very well” if it remains calm in the face of threats.
In this regard, he highlighted the integration of Mexico and its northern neighbor in the commercial sphere, since “if the United States does well, Mexico does well.”
For Careaga, it is important to understand each productive sector that could be affected by the eventual imposition of tariffs, especially due to the handling of the tariffs of each product. In addition, he considered that there could be an extended pause of the eventual tariff measure, whose one-month extension “was like a small victory to buy time.”
“I think what we are going to see is an extended pause again, and eventually a slightly more lasting agreement,” he said, predicting that it could extend until the revision of the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC) in 2026.
He recalled that the threat of imposing 25% tariffs on Mexico was to control illegal immigration, as well as fentanyl trafficking, so Trump prepared a blow to the “Achilles heel” of the bilateral relationship, which is trade, since 80% of the products that Mexico exports go to the United States.
“It’s like the game of chicken. The original game is that two cars go against each other and the first one to get away is the chicken, because it didn’t have the courage or the strength to hold on until the end. It seemed that’s what was happening. In this case, there were two countries that were about to collide and in the end, fortunately, the reality is that both got away,” he explained.
Regarding the possibility of the 25% tariff rate going up after the truce period, the Business Development Director of THB Mexico ruled out this measure, as he said that Trump himself admitted that the tariffs would hurt the American consumer, in addition to affecting his base, and would be “shooting himself in the foot.”
It is worth remembering that the entry into force of the collection of tariffs on Mexico by the United States, which was scheduled for February 4, was suspended for a month after Presidents Claudia Sheinbaum and Donald Trump reached an agreement, in which Mexico agreed to send 10,000 elements of the National Guard in order to stop the passage of migrants to the northern neighbor and the trafficking of fentanyl, mainly.
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