He also announced 25% tariffs on products from the European Union (EU).
US President Donald Trump has announced the entry into force of the general tariff of 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada from March 4 to April 2.
This is the second date on which the US has postponed the entry into force of new tariffs on its two main trading partners, after they were scheduled to begin at the beginning of last February.
"April 2," Trump replied to the question of when the tariffs would be applied.
Trump made these remarks at his first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday at the White House.
In effect, the announcement allows the governments of Mexico and Canada to extend negotiations for another month.
Trump ordered a general tariff of 25% on Mexico and Canada starting next March 4, after a one-month pause to try to agree on greater cooperation between both countries regarding problems in the United States regarding migration, drug trafficking and national security and, if necessary, to stop the measure.
On Tuesday, Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary of Economy, said that the governments of Mexico and the United States began to exchange databases related to negotiations to avoid the imposition of tariffs on Mexican products by U.S. customs.
Ebrard met the day before, on Monday, with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in Washington.
The official said that his meeting with Lutnick was cordial and that both agreed on general ideas about the importance of trade between the United States and Mexico, how this exchange is structured and what the priorities and concerns of the White House are.
“They are already in Washington with that purpose in mind. The Undersecretary of Foreign Trade (Luis Rosendo Gutiérrez) is there, and there is a whole team working, because we have to exchange complex databases to be able to understand where we are exactly in terms of trade between Mexico and the United States,” he said.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated that she hopes to reach an agreement with the Trump administration on the imposition of tariffs, following the U.S. president's comments on the eve of the March 4 deadline agreed by both leaders as a truce.
Tariffs on the EU
Donald Trump also announced that tariffs on European Union products will be 25% across the board. "We will announce them very soon and they will be 25%, across the board, and they will apply to cars and everything," he said at his first cabinet meeting at the White House.
The US president reiterated his complaints against the European Union (EU), which he said "does not accept American cars or agricultural products." "They take advantage of us in a different way" than Canada or Mexico, he added. "They use all kinds of reasons why not. And we accept everything from them," he said. The Republican leader did want to make it clear that he "loves" the different European countries.
"I guess I'm from there at some point, a long time ago, right? Indirectly. Also quite directly, I guess. But I love the countries of Europe. I love all the countries, frankly, all different ones," he concluded.
The Republican repeated that the US trade deficit with Europe was "300 billion dollars" - figures that the European Commission disputes, estimating instead it at 150 billion euros (157 billion dollars) in goods alone, but only 50 billion if the US trade surplus in services is taken into account.
"The EU was designed to screw the United States. That was the goal and they succeeded. But now I'm the president," he said, adding that European countries might be tempted to retaliate but "they won't." Since taking office on January 20, Trump has threatened "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners to counter "unfair and unbalanced" trade.
The European Union has reacted by saying that it will act "firmly and immediately" if the United States imposes the tariffs announced by Trump. "The EU will always protect European businesses, workers and consumers against unjustified tariffs," said a spokesperson for the European Commission.
