Mexico has launched a massive deployment of 10,000 troops to cities and towns on the border with the United States. Videos and photos posted on social media by Mexico's Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA [21]) showed military and National Guard [22] troops lined up boarding transport planes and rows of army trucks rolling out in the predawn darkness Feb. 4 from bases in Mexico City, Tlaxcala and other cities. Large contingents were also mobilized to Mexico's southern border in the Yucatan. The response—dubbed "Operativo Frontera Norte"—is part of an agreement reached the previous day between US President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum postponing trade tariff threats [23] for a month. (El Paso Times [26], Peninsula360 [24])
Trump signed executive orders [27] Feb. 1 to impose 25% import tariffs on Mexico and Canada, and a 10% tariff on China. The tariffs, which include a carve-out of a lower 10% levy on Canadian energy exports, were imposed under a "national emergency" exemption to the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA [28]), citing a crisis of illegal migration and drugs. The tariffs on China remain in place, and are being challenged [29] by Beijing before the World Trade Organization (WTO [30]). (LatinVex [31], Atlantic Council [32], Jurist [33])
