President Donald Trump and his fans are framing his agreement with Mexican President Claudia Sheibaum to back away from tariffs as some huge strongman victory. They are sorely mistaken.
At midnight Monday, Trump placed 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico over claims the countries aren’t doing enough to stop “drug smuggling” and undocumented immigrants from crossing the border. Canada and Mexico were prepared to retaliate with its own retaliatory tariffs, but before that could happen, Trump and Sheinbaum announced they had come to an agreement: His tariffs on Mexico are delayed for a month, and she sends 10,000 Mexican soldiers to the border.
“I just spoke with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico. It was a very friendly conversation wherein she agreed to immediately supply 10,000 Mexican Soldiers on the Border separating Mexico and the United States,” Trump announced on Truth Social. “These soldiers will be specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl, and illegal migrants into our Country. “
“We further agreed to immediately pause the anticipated tariffs for a one month period during which we will have negotiations headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and high-level Representatives of Mexico. I look forward to participating in those negotiations, with President Sheinbaum, as we attempt to achieve a “deal” between our two Countries.”
The MAGAsphere immediately rejoiced. “2 weeks in:Mexico caved, Panama caved, Colombia caved,Venezuela caved…” right-wing X account End Wokeness wrote.
“At this rate of achievement, not only should President Donald Trump be on Mount Rushmore, I want to personally work the chisel!” fawned Elon Musk, quoting the End Wokeness post.
There are multiple issues with this facade that the Trump administration is putting on.
Firstly, the number of Mexican soldiers Sheinbaum is sending to the border is routine. Mexico sent 15,000 troops to the border in 2019, and sent 10,000 again in 2021.
“By the way, Mexico has sent its national guard to the border before, and it did jack shit to reduce fentanyl flows because the vast majority of fentanyl comes in via US CITIZENS GOING THROUGH LEGAL PORTS OF ENTRY,” wrote housing advocate Armand Domalewski.
The economic timing of this “deal” also feels way too convenient. After Trump announced massive tariffs against some of our biggest trading partners, the U.S. stock market plummeted. Now, Trump is walking back those tariffs while Mexico just sends their usual soldiers to the border.
“The Dow opened almost 1000 points down and Trump already caved on Mexico tariffs,” one popular X user wrote.
“Ooof! Mexico, Canada and Wall Street call Trump’s Tariff bluff. NOW he wants to talk to Canada, delay tariffs on Mexico for a month and Wall Street is telling him real time his tariffs are ‘dumb,’” former RNC Chair Michael Steele wrote. “Ahh, the price of eggs, cars, avocados…”
The last part of the facade is the one Trump conveniently left out of his victory post: the guns. Sheinbaum wrote after speaking with Trump that “the United States is committed to working to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico” as part of the tariff deal. It seems that Trump left this fairly important detail out of his own verbose post to keep up the strongman appearances.
So Mexico is sending extra troops to the border, as it regularly has in the past, and Trump agreed to shoulder a heavier burden in stopping the flow of American semi-automatic weapons into Mexico. How exactly did Mexico fold to Trump here?
The post Trump’s Victory Lap on Mexico Tariffs Is a Giant Farce appeared first on New Republic.
