Mexico’s President Avoided U.S. Tariffs, for Now

President Claudia Sheinbaum’s abilities to deal with a major crisis were on full display as President Trump’s tariffs on Mexican goods were paused for a month.

President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico during a news conference in Mexico City on Monday.

President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico announced on Monday morning that she had struck a deal with President Trump to pause steep tariffs on her country for a month, Gerardo Fernández Noroña wasn’t surprised

.Mr. Fernández Noroña, the president of the Mexican Senate and a member of Ms. Sheinbaum’s governing party, said he knew she had the situation under control as soon as he heard that the two heads of state would talk by phone that morning.“It was a great negotiation,” he said in a telephone interview hours after the announcement.

“It seemed, in general, that there was no room for the level of understanding, but she handled it very well.

”As Mexico stared down a trade war with its biggest trading partner and neighbor, Ms. Sheinbaum secured an important reprieve — and a collective sigh of relief — for her country less than a day before the tariffs were set to take effect. It also put her abilities to deal with a major crisis on full display.

The details of the behind-the-scenes negotiations between Mr. Trump and Ms. Sheinbaum have not been publicly released.

But this much is clear: In exchange for the Trump administration postponing 25 percent tariffs on Mexican goods until at least early March, Mexico will post an additional 10,000 Mexican National Guard members on the border with the promise to “prevent drug trafficking,” in particular fentanyl.

While the increase in the number of troops is new, Mexico using the National Guard to patrol the border isn’t. And ultimately, it seems Mexico conceded very little in order to stave off potential economic doom.ImageMexican soldiers at the site of a tent facility for deportees that was being set up in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, last month.

The U.S. government even agreed to do something Ms. Sheinbaum has repeatedly called for, even if the agreement was light on details: working together to stop the flow of arms into Mexico

I’m surprised,” said Carlos Bravo Regidor, a political analyst based in Mexico City, “because I didn’t expect it to be so easy or so cheap for Mexico.”Since before she was voted into office in June, Ms. Sheinbaum and her team were preparing for the possibility that Mr. Trump returned to the White House. And since his victory in November, Ms. Sheinbaum has reiterated that she wasn’t concerned despite his threats of mass deportations and tariffs.

The day after the U.S. elections, she promised to “establish communication and good relations.”Her predecessor and mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, forged a close working relationship with Mr. Trump in the early years of his administration, despite similar circumstances:

Mr. Trump’s repeated threats to impose tariffs on Mexico and make the country pay for a border wall. In an effort to stave off levies, Mr. Lopez Obrador agreed to bolster immigration enforcement, including deploying the National Guard.Conditions, though, have changed since then.

Mexico has eclipsed China as the largest trading partner in goods with the United States.

And Mexico emerged as the top market worldwide for U.S. food and agriculture exports, with those imports surging to more than $29 billion.

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