The 25% tariffs Donald Trump imposed on Mexico and Canada were suspended on Monday, February 3, one day before they were meant to come into force. The pause will last for a month. This roller-coaster of a day began with a Wall Street crash: The markets suddenly panicked, as they hadn't taken Trump's threats seriously. Then came an agreement with Mexico in the wake of a phone conversation between Trump and his Mexican counterpart, Claudia Sheinbaum.

"Mexico will immediately reinforce the northern border with 10,000 members of the National Guard to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, particularly fentanyl. The United States is committed to working to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico," and the US will be "pausing tariffs for one month from now," President Sheinbaum wrote on X. "I look forward to participating in those negotiations, with President Sheinbaum, as we attempt to achieve a 'deal' between our two Countries," Trump wrote on his Truth Social network. The stock market rallied, the S&P 500 index recovered some losses, dropping 0.76%, while the tech-rich Nasdaq index dropped 1.2%.

You have 76.5% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.