President Donald Trump will impose tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico beginning Saturday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Friday afternoon.
Leavitt said that Trump will hit Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs and impose a 10% tariff on China. After he was elected in November, Trump promised to impose tariffs on the three countries unless they ended the flow of illegal drugs and unlawful migration into the U.S.
“These are promises made and promises kept by the president,” Leavitt said. She added that the tariff on China is “for the illegal fentanyl that they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans.”
The White House press secretary did not detail if any products will be exempt from the tariffs but said that details would be available for the public to read in 24 hours. Immediately after the tariff announcement, the Dow Jones dropped 0.5%, the S&P 500 dropped o.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite remained on a positive trend, CNBC reported. Canada and Mexico have threatened to retaliate with tariffs if Trump made good on his threat.
“We’re ready with a response, a purposeful, forceful but reasonable, immediate response,” outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday, according to the Associated Press. “It’s not what we want, but if he moves forward, we will also act.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that her country has multiple plans if Trump imposes the tariffs.
“Now it is very important that the Mexican people know that we are always going to defend the dignity of our people, we are always going to defend the respect of our sovereignty and a dialogue between equals, as we have always said, without subordination,” she said.
Trump warned in November that he would impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”
“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!” Trump said at the time.
After Trump’s tariff threats, Trudeau met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago to discuss the issue. During that meeting, Trump reportedly told the Canadian leader that if his country couldn’t afford to pay a potential tariff, it should consider becoming the 51st state. Weeks later, amid brutal poll numbers for Trudeau, the prime minister announced that he would be stepping down.
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