Mexico, US Reach Deal To 'Indefinitely Suspend' Tariffs

United States President Donald Trump has announced via Twitter that the tariffs his administration was planning to begin collecting on all Mexican goods starting Monday have been "indefinitely suspended" as Mexico' complies with U.S. demands to take stronger measures to "stem the tide of Migration through Mexico."

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"I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico," Trump said on Twitter. "The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended," he said.

"Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measures to stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our Southern Border. This is being done to greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States," Trump said, saying that details of the deal will be disseminated by the State Department soon.

The President of Mexico Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) "celebrated" the news by emulating Trump with his own tweet twenty minutes later:

AMLO sent a Mexican delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, which arrived Wednesday in the U.S. capital of Washington D.C. to participate in negotiations aimed at avoiding Trump's tariffs, the specter of which caused the Mexican peso to fall dramatically and created volatility worldwide.

The U.S. executive had threatened to impose extraordinary tariffs on all Mexican imports, starting first with a 5 percent tariff and progressively increasing it on a monthly basis until reaching 25 percent in October. This measure would be implemented if Mexico did not stem the flow of Central American migrants trying to reach U.S. territory.

Foreign Minster Ebrard made a statement outlining some of the terms to which Mexico agreed. Among them is that Mexico will permit its country to be used as a waystation for migrants awaiting processing for asylum requests in the United States and that there is no fixed number on how many they can receive. 

Part of the deal also relates to an announcement made by the Mexican Minister for the Interior who confirmed Friday afternoon that the country would send 6,000 troops to its border with Guatemala to reinforce its own immigration rules. 

Ebrard also said after the negotiations that "Mexico and the U.S. will lead the way on making Central America a place of prosperity, safety, and development."