The president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced his plans on Friday to impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada, countries that have claimed that they will answer with reciprocal measures. This step threatens to be the beginning of a commercial war with the main American neighbors, which will have serious consequences for the three countries and for the global economy. Trump said 25% tariffs that plan to impose from this Saturday to products from Mexico and Canada and 10% for China’s can rise prices in the United States, but fell importance to the consequences. Speaking to the press from the Oval Office, he indicated that it will tax with that percentage goods such as copper, aluminum and iron, or pharmaceutical products.
In a ceremony in the Oval Office to sign the appointment of the new Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, the Republican replied with a resounding “no” to the question of whether the two neighboring countries and China could avoid tariffs adopting some last minute measure This Friday.
Trump has also declared that he is willing to impose tariffs on the countries of the European Union. Shortly before, Karoline Leavitt, spokesman for the White House, had specified that the president still does not have a calendar for the levies to the European Union, the main US trade partner. The spokeswoman did not want to indicate whether the US president raises general encumbrances to the EU as a whole or if country would go by country.
Trump’s warnings to impose tariffs on the assets of neighboring countries and commercial partners in the T-MEC agreement had put American companies and consumers on the possibility of the possibility of a drastic rise in prices in products of all kinds, from avocados To gasoline, through wood or vehicle components. When imports are expected, the final price for the citizen ends up rising.
This could trigger the return of inflation, the big problem that harmed US consumers during the mandate of Joe Biden and who, despite having finally been under control, played an important role in the electoral defeat of the Democrats last November. During the electoral campaign, Trump promised measures that would lower prices from his first day in office.
The same Thursday, in statements to journalists at the White House, Trump had insisted that he would impose tariffs this Saturday, as a measure to press the two neighboring countries to take harder measures to stop the flow of immigrants and Drug trafficking to the United States. He also considers that his country maintains a commercial deficit too high with both countries. The US president had also threatened 10% levies to Chinese products – they already drag the surcharges that Trump decreed in the commercial war with the Asian giant during his first mandate – for the role of that country in fentanyl traffic. The Trump administration accuses Mexico of producing and allowing the entry into the United States of this opioid, which kills around 100,000 people every year in the country. It also considers China responsible for this traffic because it provides, as it maintains, the materials necessary to produce fentanil.
“We will announce the tariffs to Canada and Mexico for several reasons. Number one is the people who have poured into our country so horribly and in so much. Number two are drugs, fentanyl and everything else they have put in the country. Number three are the mass subsidies that we are giving to Canada already Mexico in the form of deficits, ”said the president in an executive orders signing ceremony in the oval office.
Until the last moment it was still clear what products would be affected exactly. On Thursday, Trump said he would decide that same day if the oil would finally be included in the encumbrances. This Friday has announced that a decision with consequences will be included since the 18 Those that the average American guides to measure their satisfaction with the progress of the economy.
The US president has also pointed out that the tariffs that they plan to impose could increase according to the measures that Mexico and Canada took.
Both neighboring countries have pointed out that, in case Trump decided to move on, they would adopt their own initiatives to tax the entry of American products. A commercial war between North American countries would have consequences not only on the respective markets, but also in the rest of the continent and the world. The commercial exchange between the United States and Mexico in the first 11 months of 2024 was around 776,000 million dollars. Between the United States and Canada, the 700,000 million.
“We have prepared an answer. A firm, forceful but reasonable and immediate response. It is not what we want, but if he goes ahead we will also act, ”said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “I will not walk with hot cloths. Our country will face difficult moments in the next few days and weeks, ”he added, in statements to Canadian television.
The US president had agitated the threat of tariffs against the partners since his electoral campaign, and had continued to promise taxes before his inauguration. Given the threat of increased products, US companies had developed contingency plans: in December, product imports increased drastically, according to data from the Department of Commerce, in an apparent attempt to accumulate stocks before the entry into force of the duty.
Consumers have also tried to get ahead of a price increase. Official data show a recent increase in products purchases such as television screens, of which Mexico is a great exporter.
Trump first raised the products of Mexico and Canada last November, after winning the presidential elections. Then he stressed that he would approve them on his first day of mandate. Before that threat, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, spoke with Trump on the phone. The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, moved to Mar-A-Lago to meet him, in a step that earned him harsh criticisms in his country. Despite the good words about those conversations, after taking possession as president, on January 20, Trump maintained his threat, although he moved it to February 1.
The uncertainty about what would happen on Saturday had continued throughout this week. On Wednesday, Trump’s candidate for Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, said during his confirmation hearing that Mexico and Canada could avoid the imposition of tariffs on their products this Saturday if they took measures against drug trafficking. The banker clarified, however, other fees of fees will be decided at the end of March or April.
As part of a diplomatic deployment to avoid the sanctions of this Saturday, Canada’s Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly met Wednesday with Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in Washington.
