Trump Announces 90-Day Extension for Mexico in Trade Talks

The United States and Mexico agreed on Thursday to keep talking about a potential trade deal for 90 more days, averting the heavier tariffs President Trump had threatened to impose on America’s largest trading partner just before they were set to begin.

The news of the pause, announced by Mr. Trump and President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico on social media, came after the two leaders spoke by phone on Thursday morning. It also followed months of painstaking negotiations between the two sides that had left many Mexicans apprehensive about what Mr. Trump would ultimately decide.

But his statement on Thursday left many questions unresolved about the future trading relationship between United States and its two biggest trading partners, Mexico and Canada, especially as Mr. Trump has persistently married the threat of steep tariffs with political demands.

And in stark contrast to the optimism expressed by Mexican officials, there was a growing sense of uncertainty in Canada. Mr. Trump’s announcement about the tariff pause with Mexico did not mention the United States’ second-largest trading partner, and it came hours after he said that Canada’s decision to back Palestinian statehood “will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them.”

Last month, Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada confidentially predicted that he could reach a deal that struck down all of the Trump tariffs. By Wednesday, Mr. Carney’s self-assurance had dissipated, and he conceded that reaching any sort of a deal by the end of the week might prove impossible.

The agreement announced on Thursday will keep in place the 25 percent tariff on all goods from Mexico not covered by an existing free-trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada. That rate had been set to rise to 30 percent on Friday, the deadline Mr. Trump set for countries across the globe to strike deals or face import taxes of as much as 50 percent.