In case you missed it today,newly-inaugurated President Trump has officially, albeit temporarily backed down on his threats of tariffs against Mexico after he reached an agreement with his presidential counterpart, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.
However, some people think this “deal” was less of an actual deal and more of a blatant trick that gullible Donald Trump fell for, and it’s prompted a variety of hilarious responses.
Both United States President Donald Trump and Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo released respective announcements today, confirming that the two countries have reached an agreement, in which Pardo will deploy Mexican forces to the border in an effort to help prevent drugs and undocumented migrants from entering the United States, in exchange for Trump’s agreement to delay his proposed 25-percent tariffs on goods coming into America from Mexico.
Trump announced the deal on his Truth Social account, where he wrote, “I just spoke with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico. It was a very friendly conversation wherein she agreed to immediately supply 10,000 Mexican Soldiers on the Border separating Mexico and the United States.”
“We further agreed to immediately pause the anticipated tariffs for a one month period during which we will have negotiations headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and high-level Representatives of Mexico,” his statement reads.
The “deal” is all good and well, of course, but many Americans simply couldn’t ignore the fact that, when you really dig into it, it’s not much of a “deal” at all — considering the fact that Mexico had already agreed to deploy military forces to its northern border that it shares with the US, without the threat of economically catastrophic tariffs.
Sam Stein, of The Bulwark and MSNBC, posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), “Mexico has made similar agreements without the threat of tariffs. Here in 2021 they agreed to surge the same number of troops to help with migration. Here in 2022 they agreed to invest an additional $1.5b. Here in 2023 were 15 administrative actions.”
Mexico has made similar agreements without the threat of tariffs. Here in 2021 they agreed to surge the same number of troops to help with migrationhttps://t.co/lskmhUT4fb
Here in 2022 they agreed to invest an additional $1.5bhttps://t.co/EzkrFruD6R
Here in 2023 were 15…
— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 3, 2025
Attorney Marcy Wheeler added in a BlueSky post, “Surging 10,000 troops to the border is something Biden got them to do in the past w/o tanking the stock market.Given that @Claudiashein got concessions by giving Trump what Mexico has already given the US, I gotta wonder whether Trump’s tantrum was just about shorting the stock market.”
Note, as @samsteindc.bsky.social noted on Xitter, surging 10,000 troops to the border is something Biden got them to do in the past w/o tanking the stock market.
apnews.com/article/guat…
— emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) February 3, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell weighed in with a heaping helping of open mockery, “It seems like the trick to negotiating with Trump is to realize he doesn’t have any idea what the current facts are. ‘Oh you want 10,000 troops?’ says world leader who already deployed 15K. ‘Great 10k it is.'”
It seems like the trick to negotiating with Trump is to realize he doesn’t have any idea what the current facts are.
“Oh you want 10,000 troops?” says world leader who already deployed 15K. “Great 10k it is”— Catherine Rampell (@crampell.bsky.social) February 3, 2025 at 9:48 AM
MSNBC’s Michael Steele, the former chair of the Republican National Committee, said, “Ooof! Mexico, Canada, and Wall Street call Trump’s Tariff bluff. NOW he wants to talk to Canada, delay tariffs on Mexico for a month and Wall Street is telling him real time his tariffs are ‘dumb.’ Ahh, the price of eggs, cars, avocados…”
Ooof! Mexico, Canada and Wall Street call Trump’s Tariff bluff. NOW he wants to talk to Canada, delay tariffs on Mexico for a month and Wall Street is telling him real time his tariffs are “dumb”. Ahh, the price of eggs, cars, avocados… pic.twitter.com/atsKkCb5h7
— Michael Steele (@MichaelSteele) February 3, 2025
Washington Post columnist Philip Bump pointed out that the whole agreement is essentially useless, writing, “Fentanyl is small and easy to hide, so it is mostly smuggled while hidden in cars being driven through border checkpoints — often by Americans. Stationing soldiers at the border does basically nothing to stop this.”
Fentanyl is small and easy to hide, so it is mostly smuggled while hidden in cars being driven through border checkpoints — often by Americans.
Stationing soldiers at the border does basically nothing to stop this.
— Philip Bump (@pbump.com) February 3, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Featured image via screen capture