How the leaders of Canada and Mexico took different routes for a tarifa agreement with Trump

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau de Canada went to the threat of immediate reprisals and a night emotional discourse that produced a Cliffhanger commitment.

President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico opted for carrots about sticks and talks in the back room that led to early treatment.

In the end, when everything was said and done on Monday, hours before what would have been the beginning of a commercial war in North America, both leaders negotiated President Trump for his threat of imposing tariffs on the two commercial partners of the states Joined. .

And both had to provide relatively little in return.

The different routes that Mr. Trudeau and Mrs. Sheinbaum followed the same result, a 30 -day delay in US tariffs in exchange for hardening their borders to stop drug flow and not authorized migrants to the United States, A different story. Leadership styles and two countries with different relations with the United States.

Mr. Trudeau had been preparing the ground for commitment and reprisals since November. Three days after Mr. Trump first issued his tariff threat on November 25, the Canadian Prime Minister got into a plane to Mar-a-Lago to talk to him about how to avoid what would be equivalent to a commercial war Fraternal to deeply damage the Canadian economy.

According to all the accounts, that first meeting prepared the stage for the Canada bases to direct Through the border.

The parallel history of how the leader of Mexico obtained the same tariff delay for his country, with a few hours of advantage over Canada, highlights the firm and composed leadership style of Mrs. Sheinbaum, and her willingness to concentrate on the association in the association in His conversations with Trump.

Even before being voted in the position in June, Mrs. Sheinbaum and her team had been preparing for the possibility of Trump returning to the White House. And since her victory in November, Mrs. Sheinbaum has reiterated that she was not worried despite her threats of mass deportations and rates. The day after the US elections, he promised to “establish communication and good relations.”

In Canada, the weeks have elapsed since the meeting in Mar-A-Lago between Trudeau and Mr. Trump have been full of developments that normally take months, or even years, to develop. To begin with, Mr. Trudeau, who has become increasingly unpopular at home, announced that he would resign. On March 9, their party, the liberals, will choose a new leader and that person will become the next Prime Minister of Canada, at least until a federal election is called at the end of this year.

Several of their main ministers said they would not run to replace it to concentrate on the imminent confrontation of the rate. Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly, and the Minister of Finance, Dominic Leblanc, both Trudeau allies and potential successors, launched themselves to press the key Republicans.

Mr. Leblanc developed a “Bromance” with Howard Lutnick, the election of Mr. Trump to be Secretary of Commerce. Mrs. Joly visited the United States five times, pressing the upper Republicans and talking to Trump’s border tsar, Thomas Homan.

She told them that Canada would take the initiative to protect the border so that the United States did not need to use too many resources.

“I said, we know that the southern border is a concern for you, so we will put the resources on the northern border,” said Joly in an interview about his message to the Republicans he met. “That way you can have your resources on the southern border.”

But Mr. Trudeau also made it clear that he would level retaliation rates against the United States if Trump decided to move forward with his threat. Government officials said that the outgoing Canadian leader believed that it was vital to defend Canada in a more aggressive way, while working simultaneously to meet Trump’s demands.

Canada in December was implemented and budgeted a plan of $ 900 million several years to strengthen its border protections. That included immediately implement two Blackhawk helicopters, 60 drones made in the United States and additional border guards.

On Saturday, after the White House announced that Trump would continue with the tariffs, Trudeau went not only to the Canadians, but also made it clear that he was talking directly with the Americans, in an emotional night speech.

“We don’t want to be here,” Trudeau said, evoking the deep ties between the two neighbors and nearby commercial partners. “We don’t ask for this.”

But, while detailed his own reprisal rates plan, he added: “We will remain firm for Canada.”

In the end, it was reduced to the cable. Trudeau and Trump failed to achieve a commitment in a Monday morning call. That extended anxiety for a few hours, but a second call at the end of the afternoon threw an agreement, with Trump according to the tariffs back in a month.

The bases of the eventual agreement announced on Monday afternoon had been in force for weeks, but Canada also promised to do more in the Fentanilo Front, appointing a “Fentanyl Tsar” and committing new resources to combat organized crime and posters .

In Mexico, the predecessor and mentor of Mrs. Sheinbaum, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had forged a close working relationship with Mr. Trump in the first years of his administration, despite similar circumstances: repeated Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on Mexico and make the country pays for a border wall. In an effort to avoid taxes, Mr. López Obrador agreed to strengthen the application of immigration, including the deployment of the National Guard.

The conditions, however, have changed since then. Mexico has eclipsed China as the largest commercial partner in goods with the United States. And Mexico arose like the upper market Worldwide for American food and agricultural exports, with these imports increasing to more than $ 29 billion.

But there is a key difference between Mr. López Obrador and Mrs. Sheinbaum: although sometimes she adopted a tone of confrontation towards the United States, she maintains a more measured and cold -headed behavior.

Unlike Canada, which was clear about his plans to retaliate with his own tariffs on US assets and with his border plans to address Trump’s demands, Mrs. Sheinbaum and her team were more tight.

After Trump ordered the tariffs on Saturday, Mrs. Sheinbaum still stirred her time, promising to reveal her “Plan B” response later, but first asked Mr. Trump to respond to his request to form a security group and health health. officials from both countries.

Later that Saturday, Mr. Trudeau and Mrs. Sheinbaum put on the phone to exchange notes. A Canadian official with knowledge of the call said they updated each other about their respective strategies, and acknowledged that they were slightly different approaches, but they had exactly the same objectives.

On Monday morning, Mrs. Sheinbaum and Trump spoke on the phone, a call that showed a faster result than Mr. Trump held with Trudeau. Shortly after, Mrs. Sheinbaum published in X that a commitment had been reached.

Going to journalists later, Mrs. Sheinbaum said the discussion had been “very respectful.” Trump described the call as “very friendly.”

She also assured a 30 -day postponement for Mexico in exchange for border and fentanyl measures, most of which, as in the case of Canada, had been part of the existing plans.

“We have this month to work, to convince ourselves that this is the best way to follow,” Sheinbaum said at his regular press conference in the morning after talking to President Trump. Suggesting that he could delay the sanctions completely, he said that he had told his American counterpart: “We are going to deliver results. Good results for its people, good results for the Mexican people. “

As for Mr. Trudeau, when the 30 -day lax breath will be in his last week in office.