Duties on imports from Canada and Mexico will take effect “as planned” on March 4th, President Trump said Thursday morning, claiming that the countries are still not enough to stop the flow of drugs to the United States.
China will also face another 10% tariffs next week, with the 10% he imposed earlier this month, and the president wrote in a Truth Social post.
“Drugs are still poured into our country from Canada at very high levels from Mexico and Canada,” he said. “Most of these drugs are large in the form of fentanyl, made and supplied from China,” he added that taxation is necessary until the drug flow “stops or is very limited.”
To stem the flow of immigration and drugs, Trump threatened to immigrate in early February to impose tariffs on all products from Canada, Mexico and China. But after Mexico and Canada promised measures such as sending more troops to the border, Trump suspending tariffs for a month after Canada appointed “Emperor Fentanyl.”
He moved forward with a 10% tariff on all products from China on those already in place, urging China to retaliate with its own tariff on American goods.
Additional tariffs on the country's three biggest trading partners will only add to the economic tensions that have begun to emerge from the surge in Trump's actions. And his threats have brought certain difficulties for Canadian officials who argued that fentanyl, made in Canada, poses an increasingly unthreatening threat to the United States.
Last year, US customs and border agents intercepted about 19 kilograms of fentanyl at the US-Canadian border, compared to almost 9,600 kilograms at the border with Mexico, where cartels mass-produce drugs. A 2020 Congressional Committee considering reducing drug flow to the United States discovered that Canada is not known to be the primary source of fentanyl or its precursor chemicals.
In contrast, Mexico is the main source of fentanyl shipping. In recent months, the Mexican government has expanded its operations against Sinaloa, with high levels of arrests, drug lab busts and drug attacks exploding, shaking the operations of Sinaloa cartels.
After Trump came to the brink of imposing a 25% tariff on Mexican exports earlier this month, Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum sent 10,000 National Guard troops to the border, hundreds of soldiers to Sinaloa and most of the fentanyl trafficking, resulting in high levels of arrests and drug lab raids.
It remains unclear whether these efforts will be sufficient to soften Trump. His post on Thursday appeared to be an attempt to clarify the timing of his various tariffs after his comments at the White House on Wednesday caused confusion over whether the March 4 taxation was delayed.
When asked about tariffs in Canada and Mexico on Wednesday, Trump said he would continue, but mentioned on April 2. He said that different batches of tariffs in different countries, which he called mutual tariffs, would be enforced.
Some investors interpreted these statements as indications the president intended to continue to delay tariffs related to drugs and immigration, increasing the value of the peso and Canadian dollar. However, White House officials on Wednesday revealed that the April 2nd date referred to other tariffs rather than Canada or Mexico fees.
“The second mutual tariff day in April is in full effect,” Trump wrote Thursday.
かったんとかないます, Natalie Kittrophe and Paulina Vilgas Reports of contributions.
