Mexico City, Mexico - Mexico on Tuesday began the 10,000-strong border troop deployment it had promised US President Donald Trump in exchange for delaying a 25% tariff on exported goods.

"The deployment has already started," Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters a day after announcing a last-minute deal with Trump to further crack down on immigrants and asylum seekers, as well as stop cross-border smuggling of fentanyl.

Trump on Saturday announced sweeping measures against Canada, China, and Mexico.

Its immediate neighbors were set to pay an export tariff of 25%, the president announced, and China an additional 10% on top of existing duties.

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Canada and Mexico announced reciprocal levies before both countries' presidents managed to strike a deal with Trump Monday that saw him delay the tariffs by a month.

Markets had slumped Monday after the weekend threats sparked fears of a global trade war.

Sheinbaum said Tuesday troops had been taken from parts of the country that "do not have as much of a security problem."

More than 450,000 people have been murdered countrywide since Mexico launched a major offensive against drug cartels in 2006.

The US border deployment "does not leave the rest of the country without security," the president insisted.

In 2019, Mexico sent as many as 15,000 troops across the border with the US. Human rights organizations have previously documented serious abuses committed by Mexican security forces against refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants.