The president of the United States, Donald Trump, said Monday, March 3 that he maintains his intention to impose 25 % tariffs on The products that Canada and Mexico export to their country And he assured that both nations do not have “margin” of negotiation to avoid them.
“There is no room for Mexico or Canada, no. Tariffs are ready and come into force tomorrow,” Trump told the press at the White House.
The president also explained that, as of this Tuesday, an additional 10 % tariff on Chinese imports will enter into force, which will be added to 10 % already applied on February 4, thus raising the 20 % tariff load on these products.
These measures against China are added to the taxes imposed during Trump’s first mandate (2017-2021) about more than US $ 300 billion in Chinese products, most of which remain in force.
As justification to move forward with the imposition of tariffs, Trump cited fentanyl traffic, a powerful opioid responsible for thousands of deaths a year in the United States.
“Huge amounts of Fentanilo have entered our country from Mexico and, as they know, also from China, where Canada is sent to Mexico,” said Trump, who insisted that this drug “arrives from Canada and from Mexico.”
The president assured that tariffs will benefit American manufacturing, especially the automobile sector, which was harmed by the transfer of jobs to other countries with the entry into force of trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) during the 90s.
“It will be very expensive to take advantage of this country, steal money, jobs, our factories and businesses, and expect not to be punished. They are being punished with tariffs. It is a very powerful weapon,” Trump said.
The president’s statements occur after his secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, indicated this Monday in an interview with CNN that Trump still had to make a final decision on tariffs to Mexico and Canada.
Initially, Trump had threatened to impose these tariffs on February 4, but decided to postpone its application for a month after Mexico undertook to deploy 10 thousand members of the National Guard on the border with the US. UU. And Canada announced the appointment of a ‘Tsar of the Fentanilo’, among other measures.
Delegations from Canada and Mexico met Friday with Trump team members To discuss their efforts to increase border security and recover fentanyl traffic, as the president had demanded. However, these negotiations have not worked.