Tariffs on Canada and Mexico will land on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump says.
“Very importantly tomorrow, tariffs — 25 per cent on Canada and 25 per cent on Mexico — and that’ll start. So they’re going to have to have a tariff,” Trump told reporters in the White House.
Trump was referring to the broad-based 25 per cent tariffs on all goods coming in from Canada and Mexico, with a lower 10 per cent rate for Canadian energy exports and an additional 10 per cent on Chinese goods.
Trump has said these tariffs are aimed at curbing the flow of illegal substances, specifically fentanyl, coming in through the border into the United States.
These tariffs were originally slated to go into effect on Feb. 4, but Trump decided to defer them for a month after a phone call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
The 30-day pause was aimed at giving both countries time to secure their respective borders with the United States.
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While U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in a Fox News interview Sunday had said Canada and Mexico had done a “reasonable job” at securing the borders, Trump on Monday said the two did not have any room left for negotiation.
“No room left for Mexico or for Canada. No. The tariffs you know, they’re all set. They go into effect tomorrow,” Trump said.
The original executive order, signed on Feb. 1, states that the tariffs would go into effect at 12:01 am Eastern on Tuesday, Feb. 4.
While it was not clear what the revised timing of the tariffs would be, the U.S. decided on a one-month break. This would imply that the tariffs go into effect at 12:01 am Eastern on Tuesday, March. 4.
Trump also seemed to hint that the tariffs are aimed at forcing the North American auto industry to shift production into the United States.
“I would just say this to people in Canada or Mexico if they’re going to build car plants, the people that are doing them are much better off building here,” he said.
The tariffs that Trump has linked to migrants and fentanyl crossing the border are not the only set of tariffs that are expected to hit over the next few weeks. Additional tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as global reciprocal tariffs are set to hit in the coming weeks.
Ottawa has vowed to hit back with dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs against the United States.
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