Article by: Rick Walker, Vice President, TradeInsights, LCB/CCS

In a message on X this morning, President Trump said he had a “very friendly conversation” with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, during which Mexico agreed to send 10,000 troops to the borders to focus on halting fentanyl and illegal immigration into the U.S. at the Southern border. This led to a mutual agreement to pause the 25% tariffs on U.S. imports from Mexico for one month, as negotiations between the two countries continues. “I look forward to participating in those negotiations, with President Sheinbaum, as we attempt to achieve a ‘deal’ between our two Countries,” President Trump said.

It is still uncertain if the 25% Canadian tariffs imposed by the Trump administration will be implemented by midnight, Feb. 4, as announced on Saturday, or if an agreement will be reached between President Trump and Canadian President Justin Trudeau to pause those tariffs, as well. During a White signing this afternoon, the President said he has another call with Prime Minister Trudeau at 3 PM this afternoon.

Lastly, CBP as promised, released Federal Register Notices for the Canada and China tariffs which details operational specifics of the new tariffs. The Canada notice can be found here, and the China notice can be found here.

The notices stated that goods exempted from new tariffs on Canada and China because they were in transit when the tariffs were announced must be entered before Feb. 7 for Canada, and before March 7 for China, to qualify for the exemption.

According to the notices, goods subject to the 25% tariffs on Canadian goods will enter under subheading 9903.01.10, or 9903.01.13, for energy imports subject to a 10% duty. Canadian goods entering under the exemption for shipments in transit will enter under subheading 9903.01.14. New subheadings 9903.01.11 and 9903.01.12 will exempt donations and informational materials exempt from tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Goods from China subject to the tariffs will enter under subheading 9903.01.20. Goods exempt because they were in transit will enter under subheading 9903.01.23, and subheadings 9903.01.21 and 9903.01.22 will cover exempt donations and informational materials, respectively.

For those of you that use the CBP Cargo Messaging System, please note that CBP also issued CSMS# 63988467 and CSMS# 63988468 this afternoon which may provide additional information.

This is the latest information we have as of this writing, but there will certainly be more to come as this news changes rapidly.

We will issue updates accordingly.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team, or you may also contact our Trade Compliance team at tradeinsights@valexander.com with any questions.