Donald Trump struck Canada, Mexico and China with steep tariffs on Saturday in a move that begins a new era of trade wars between the US and three of its largest trading partners.
Trump issued an executive order applying additional 25 percent tariffs for all imports from Canada and Mexico, with the exception of Oil and Canadian power products, which will face a 10 percent tax. Canada is so far the largest supplier of foreign oil in the US, accounting for about 60 percent of its raw imports.
Imports from China will face a 10 percent tariff on and on existing US tariffs.
Posting on social truth, Trump said he used urgent powers to release fees “due to the huge threat of illegal strangers and deadly drugs that killed our citizens, including Fentanil.”
Tariffs would be implemented by Tuesday, the White House said.
An administration official said each order contained “a revenge clause. . . so that if any country chooses to retaliate in any way, the signal will be further enterprise in relation to possible increased tariffs. “
In response, Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced 25 percent fees worth $ 155 billion ($ 107 billion), including American alcohol, clothing, home appliances and raw materials.
Tredeau said tariffs will endanger our jobs, “potentially closing the US assembly plants and other production facilities. They will increase costs for you, including food in grocery and gas in the pump.”
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said the country would also launch revenge tariffs and other measures.
“You don’t solve problems by imposing fees, but with speech and dialogue,” she wrote on X.
In Beijing on Sunday, the Foreign Ministry said China “depreciates it strongly and opposes the action” and will receive “necessary countermeasures to protect its rights and issues”.
He said the tariffs were imposed “under the pretext of the Fentanil issue”, but that is “one of the most difficult places in the world for counternationalism both in terms of politics and its implementation”.
Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said in a note that the 10 percent tariff was not “a big shock to China’s economy” and “is unlikely to change the market reception in China’s macro appearance”.
The movements were condemned roundly by industry groups and economists, with the US Chamber of Commerce warning that they “would raise prices for American households and raise supply chains”.
The largest group of US fossil fuel lobbies, the American Petroleum Institute, warned that North America’s energy markets were “very integrated” and that free trade was “critical”.
The President used the International Law on Emergency Economic Powers, an executive authority that allows him to respond to emergencies through economic means, to implement taxes without the approval of the Congress. The law has not been used before to adopt tariffs, though Trump threatened to use it against Mexico in 2019.
The sudden movement of Trump’s opening will remove the hopes of countries expecting a slower and more cautious approach to trade policy after the Trump administration ordered a host of US trade relations on the day of inauguration.
It also signals the President’s willingness to use fees to pressure allies on issues ranging from immigration to drug trafficking. Trump has justified the tariffs complaining about what he says is poor security on the borders with Mexico and Canada, and arguing that both – along with China – have failed to do enough to curb the deadly opioid flow In the SH.BA
On Saturday, a White House official said tariffs will be lifted as soon as “Americans stop dying from Made to China, scattered by Mexico and Canada Fentanyl”.
The official added: “This is not just about Fentanil. . . This is really a border security issue. “
Trump has also quoted America’s trade deficit with Canada, Mexico and China as the excuse for tariffs. On Friday, he admitted that they can cause some “interruptions”, but added: “Tariffs will make us very rich and very strong.”
On Friday, Trump said he planned to get tariffs for EU imports as well, but Saturday’s announcement does not include any measures in relation to the EU.
Trump withdrew from the 60 percent fee for Chinese imports from China he had threatened during the presidential campaign. The 10 percent tax was created to punish Beijing for the course of components to make Fentanil, a deadly opium that has been the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45 over the past three years.
Peking clashed with Fentanil’s export several years ago, but groups in China moved on exporting precursor chemicals to cards to Mexico to produce the final product.
Dimitry Anastakis, a business professor at the University of Toronto, said American tariffs can be a friend of the system as painful as Pandemia Covid.
“It is unnecessary and quite stupid,” he said. “This is getting a hammer with a non-existent problem with North American economy that was working quite well.”
Anastakis said there will be immediate pain in vehicle trade, job losses and a potential recession in Canada.
Additional reporting from Demetrius Sevastopulo to Washington
