President-elect Donald Trump has promised big tariffs on three of the United States’ biggest trading partners — Canada, Mexico and China — outlining how he will follow through on campaign promises that Could trigger trade wars.
Trump, due to return to the White House on January 20, 2025, has said he would impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico as long as they ban drugs, particularly fentanyl, and immigrants crossing the border. Do not apply. That would appear to be in violation of the Free Trade Agreement.
“On January 20th, as one of my first of many executive orders, I will sign all the necessary documents to impose a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States and its absurdly open borders to Mexico and Canada. Ga,” he said in one post. On the true social.
On his approach to China, the president-elect said he would impose an “additional 10% tariff on top of any additional tariffs” on imports from Beijing.
While immigration arrests reached record highs during President Joe Biden’s presidency, straining U.S. border enforcement, illegal crossings fell dramatically this year as Biden enacted new border restrictions and Mexico eased enforcement. Did you speed up?
In 2023, more than 83 percent of Mexico’s exports went to the United States, compared to 75 percent of Canadian exports.
The tariffs are also potentially problematic for overseas companies such as many Asian auto and electronics manufacturers that use Mexico as a low-cost production gateway to the U.S. market.
Trump’s threatened new tariffs would appear to violate the terms of the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
The agreement Trump signed went into effect in 2020 and continues duty-free trade between the three countries.
Canada and the United States at one point imposed sanctions on each other’s products during tough negotiations that eventually led to the USMCA.
Trump will have the opportunity to renegotiate the deal in 2026 when a “sunset” provision would either force a withdrawal or negotiate changes to the deal.
After issuing his tariff threat, Trump held talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in which he discussed trade and border security, according to a Canadian source familiar with the situation.
“It was a good conversation and they will stay in touch,” the source added.
William Rensch, former president of the National Foreign Trade Council, said Trump is counting on the threat of tariffs to renegotiate the USMCA as soon as possible.
“That strikes me as more of a threat than anything else,” Reinsch added: “I guess if you keep hitting them in the face, eventually they’ll surrender.”
Mexico’s lower house leader Ricardo Monreal, a member of the ruling Morena party, called for “the use of bilateral, institutional mechanisms to combat human, drug and arms trafficking.”
“Increasing trade retaliation will only hurt people’s pockets and is far from addressing the underlying issues,” he said in a post on social media platform X.
Beijing responds.
On China, the president-elect accused Beijing of not doing enough to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States across the border from Mexico.
“Until they stop, we will charge an additional 10% tariff on all their products coming into the United States from China, on top of any additional tariffs,” Trump said.
In response, Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said: “China believes that China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature. No one will win in a trade war or a tariff war. ”
The embassy also cited steps it said China had taken since the 2023 US-China meeting, after which Beijing agreed to export goods related to the production of the opioid fentanyl. , which is a major cause of drug overdoses in the United States.
“All of this proves that China’s deliberate allowing of fentanyl precursors to flow into the United States is completely contrary to facts and reality,” the spokesman said.
Trump has previously promised to end China’s most-favored-nation trade status and impose tariffs of more than 60 percent on Chinese imports — far higher than those imposed during his first term.
The Chinese economy is now in a much weaker position due to the country’s prolonged property slump, credit risks and weak domestic demand.
Experts weigh in.
Before the Nov. 5 election, Trump planned blanket tariffs of 10% to 20% on nearly all imports.
He also said he would impose tariffs of up to 200 percent on every car coming through the US-Mexico border.
He also expressed his intention to formally invoke the USMCA’s six-year review clause upon taking office. Currently, it is expected in July 2026.
Mexico’s finance ministry said of Trump’s tariff pledge: “Mexico is the largest trading partner of the United States, and the USMCA provides a framework of certainty for national and international investors”.
Economists say Trump’s comprehensive tariff plans, possibly his most consequential economic policy, will push U.S. import duty rates back to 1930s levels, boost inflation, The US and China will end trade, retaliate and rapidly reorganize supply chains.
Duties are paid by companies that import products subject to duty, and they either pass the cost on to consumers or accept a lower profit, they say.
Trump often refers to countries paying as a result of his tariff plan, saying on Monday that Mexico and Canada “will pay a huge price”.