US President Trump announced today a decision to delay pending tariffs on key US trading partner Mexico that were slated to go into effect tomorrow Aug.1, according to media reports. The reports indicate the president granted another 90-day extension in order to allow additional time to negotiate with our southern partner because “the complexities of a deal with Mexico are somewhat different than other nations because of both the problems, and assets, of the border,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
“We will be talking to Mexico over the next 90 days with the goal of signing a trade deal somewhere within the... period of time, or longer,” Trump said. “We have agreed to extend... the exact same deal as we had for the last short period of time, namely, that Mexico will continue to pay a 25 percent fentanyl tariff, 25 percent tariff on cars, and 50 percent tariff on steel, aluminum, and copper.”
In related news, the legality of Trump’s so-called “liberation day” tariffs announced on April 2 will be challenged today by two companies bringing legal cases before the Court of International Trade. V.V.O.S. Selections Inc., a wine and spirits importer, and Plastic Services and Products, a pipe and fittings company, sued Trump over his use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977, claiming he has “no authority to issue across-the-board worldwide tariffs without congressional approval.”
Trump argues the tariffs are necessary to address longstanding trade imbalances between the US and various international trading partners, and that these claims -as part of the IEEPA-, constitute a national security emergency that falls under the power of the president to take action.
The Court of International Trade initially blocked the tariffs in late May, finding that the import duties lacked “any identifiable limits” and that the law Trump cited in many of his executive orders didn’t “delegate an unbounded tariff authority to the president.” It also said the tariffs did not meet the test of an “unusual and extraordinary” risk to the country. Trump appealed the finding.
Today’s court test will not affect tariffs the president implemented under other laws, such as 10 percent steel tariffs on the UK and 50 percent steel and aluminum tariffs on other trading partners. Those tariffs were implemented under various sections of the Trade Act of 1974 and the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
The tariffs which ranged from 10 percent to as high as 50 percent, were initially planned to take effect on April 9, though were later delayed for an initial 90 day “pause” that was expected to give affected nations the necessary time to negotiate individual tariff rates with Washington. To date, less than 10 nations have struck deals with Washington, with most others expected to see individual tariff rates fall between 10-20 percent when new tariffs go into affect tomorrow, experts say.