The question to Donald Trump was clear: when the tariffs were started to Mexico and Canada. The answer, also: “April 2.” However, he entered into contradiction with what he had just affirmed, that he would not stop the tariffs, whose entry into force was scheduled for March 4. His secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, tried to tertiary, but did not want to correct his boss. In the end, seeing that I had bundled her on the eve, Trump announced Thursday that tariffs enter into force next week.
“The proposed tariffs that will take effect on March 4 will come into force, as planned. In the same way, China will be applied an additional 10% tariff on that date. The date of the reciprocal tariff of April 2 will continue in full vigor and effect. Thanks for your attention to this matter. May God bless the United States! ”Trump has written.
The president of the United States has launched so many threats and so contradictory to tariffs that it is not uncommon for himself to end up and incur contradictions. On the other hand, reliability on their dates has fallen a lot after its constant breaches.
Trump threatened to campaign with tariffs on Mexican cars, but when he launched a more seriously ultimatum it was after winning the elections. He said he would impose 25% tariffs to all his products from the first day of his second term if Mexico and Canada did not stop the traffic of fentanyl and the entry of immigrants.
The first day arrived, on January 20, and Trump said he would apply tariffs on February 1. The goods continued to circulate freely. That afternoon, Trump signed a decree so that the encumbrances were applied since February 4, causing an earthquake in the markets. However, then Trump spoke with the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, and the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and to change some minor concessions, postponed the tariffs for a month, until March 4.
This week, Trump has insisted several times that the date was still standing, but the first meeting of his cabinet arrived, this Wednesday, and said – at the same time – that and the opposite: that the application would be since April 2. “I will not stop tariffs,” he said first, before describing how he believed that the US had been a victim of years of abuse by his neighbors. And then they asked when they entered into force and replied: “April 2.” The Mexican peso and the Canadian dollar reacted upwards. Trump had made a mess with the date he manages for the so -called reciprocal tariffs.
As for China, Trump promised to impose 60% tariffs on all Chinese products. Instead, after the elections, he threatened his allies and partners Mexico and Canada with 25% and China, with 10%. The procedure followed the same path as those of those two other countries, with the difference that Trump said he was going to talk to Xi Jinping (apparently to postpone tariffs in exchange for concessions about fentanyl) and gives the impression that the Chinese president did not lend himself to the maneuver. The tariffs entered into force, but US customs were not prepared to apply them, so they collapsed. Trump had to reverse and exempt most of the shipments, those of less than $ 800 (768 euros, to the current change) of platforms such as Temu and Shein.
Legal insecurity
Now, Trump says it will apply another 10% additional to Chinese products since March 4. Again, we will have to wait to see if it is a new false alarm or is serious. There are also no details about whether most shipments will continue to be exempt. There is only one message on your social network, no legal text or explanatory document. With that way of governing, it generates uncertainty and legal insecurity, which are not good for the economy.
The president of the United States was presuming at the meeting of his cabinet, on Wednesday, how he had managed to close the border to irregular immigration. The tariffs to Mexico justified them by immigrants and fentanyl. Those of Canada and China, only for drugs. In his message on his social network, Truth, this Thursday, Trump leaves aside the immigration issue.
“Drugs continue to reach our country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels. A large percentage of these drugs, many of them in the form of a fentanyl, are manufactured and supplied from China, ”he says in his message. “More than 100,000 people died last year due to the distribution of these dangerous and highly addictive poisons. Millions of people have died in the last two decades. The families of the victims are devastated and, in many cases, practically destroyed. We cannot allow this scourge to continue damaging the United States and, therefore, until it stops or limited itself seriously, the proposed tariffs will enter into force on March 4 will come into force, as planned, ”he says.
