President Trump suspends plan to impose tariff on Mexican products

PHOENIX (FOX 10/AP) -- President Donald Trump said Friday he is suspending plans to impose tariffs on imports from Mexico.

The President announced his decision in two tweets made on his verified Twitter account.

In the tweets, the President said the U.S. has reached an agreement with Mexico to suspend the tariffs indefinitely, in return for Mexico to take "strong measures to stem the tide of migration" through the U.S.-Mexico border. Details on the agreement, Trump said, will be released by the State Department.

The tweet marked a change in tone from earlier Friday, when his spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters in Ireland before Trump took off: "Our position has not changed. The tariffs are going forward as of Monday." Trump has often said unpredictability helps him negotiate.

On May 30, President Trump said in a tweet that the U.S. will impose a 5% tariff on all imports from Mexico, starting on June 10, 'until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP. (sic)"

A tax on all Mexican goods , which would increase every month up to 25% under Trump's plan, would have had enormous economic implications for both countries. Americans bought $378 billion worth of Mexican imports last year, led by cars and auto parts. Many members of Trump's Republican Party and business allies have urged him to reconsider -- or at least postpone actually implementing the tariffs as talks continue -- citing the potential harm to American consumers and manufactures.

U.S. and Mexican officials held a third day of talks at the U.S. State Department trying to hash out a deal that would satisfy Trump's demand that Mexico dramatically increase its efforts to crack down on migrants.

The talks were said to be focused, in part, on attempting to reach a compromise on changes that would make it harder for migrants who pass through Mexico from other countries to claim asylum in the U.S., those monitoring the situation said. Mexico has opposed such a change but appeared open to considering a potential compromise that could include exceptions or waivers for different types of cases.

Trump has nonetheless embraced tariffs as a political tool he can use to force countries to comply with his demands -- in this case on his signature issue of immigration. And he appeared poised earlier Friday to invoke an emergency declaration that would allow him to put the tariffs into effect if that is his final decision, according to people monitoring the talks.

Beyond Trump and several White House advisers, few in his administration believe the tariffs are a good idea, according to officials familiar with internal deliberations. Those people worry about the negative economic consequences for Americans and believe the tariffs -- which would likely spark retaliatory taxes on U.S. exports -- would also hurt the administration politically.

Republicans in Congress have warned the White House that they are ready to stand up to the president to try to block his tariffs, which they worry would spike costs to U.S. consumers, harm the economy and imperil a major pending U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal.

The Associated Press (AP) contributed to this report.