Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a 30-day suspension on US tariffs after an agreement was reached with US President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, tariffs on China are scheduled to start on Tuesday.

      The Mexican and Canadian leaders agreed to send thousands of police to their borders with the US to fight drug trafficking and undocumented migration.

      The Trump administration locked US Agency for International Development (USAID) workers out of their headquarters in downtown Washington, DC, on Monday, as it moved to close the agency.

      Democratic party lawmakers have questioned the legality of billionaire Elon Musk’s role in sweeping changes at key US federal government bodies, including Treasury and USAID.

      A judge in Washington, DC, has extended an order pausing Trump’s plan to freeze potentially trillions in US federal government spending.

      What has China said about Trump’s proposed tariffs?

      While proposed tariffs against Mexico and Canada have been paused, Trump’s 10 percent charge on Chinese imports is slated to go into effect in 15 minutes (Tuesday at midnight Eastern Time).

      China has enjoyed a surprisingly warm start to Trump’s second term as president, with President Xi Jinping and Trump holding what the US leader described as a “very good” phone call days before he took office.

      But Trump’s tariffs will be an unwelcome development for Beijing as China’s export-reliant economy slows.

      With the tariffs announced in the midst of a nationwide holiday, the Chinese New Year, Beijing’s response has been more muted than Canada and Mexico so far:

•       China’s Ministry of Commerce said it “hopes that the US side will objectively and rationally look at and deal with its own fentanyl issue and other issues, rather than threatening other countries by means of tariffs at every turn”.
•       It also said it would file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and “take corresponding countermeasures to firmly safeguard its own rights and interests”.
•       It has not specified what form these countermeasures would take but said the proposed US tariff “seriously violates the WTO rules” and that China would “resolutely defend its rights”.

      Malaysia PM says will ‘aggressively’ build trade relations, not wait for US tariffs

      Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that Malaysia will actively build trade relations with other major world powers, including China, Russia and Brazil, instead of waiting for the US to potentially impose tariffs.

      Anwar told Malaysia’s parliament on Tuesday that uncertainty remains despite President Trump’s 30-day pause on tariffs on Canada and Mexico, with US tariffs on China also still due to take effect.

      “On our part, we must take proactive steps … to aggressively open a wider network of trading partners,” Anwar said.