Hours before tariffs were scheduled to go into effect against Canada and Mexico, President Trump agreed to delay them for 30 days after gaining assurances of stronger efforts to control the flow of people and fentanyl across both borders. The assurances from the leaders of Canada and Mexico, which included some steps the two governments were already planning to take, temporarily averted 25% tariffs on all goods from the countries.

Separate 10% additional tariffs on Chinese goods went into effect, and China immediately retaliated with additional duties on U.S. fossil fuel products, agricultural machinery and some passenger vehicles. China also put limits on exports of some strategic materials to the U.S.

Even though tariffs on North American trade partners were averted for now, uncertainty remained a theme in financial markets. For U.S. agriculture, the fear has been that Canada and Mexico – the two largest export markets for U.S. farm products – would hike duties on agricultural goods and further weaken an already-struggling farm economy.

Those fears have not gone away, since tariffs could still be imposed at the end of 30 days. During the first Trump administration, major export commodities suffered from Chinese retaliation and market shares shifted toward competitors in Latin America and elsewhere.