During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump often threatened to impose tariffs on several countries, citing problems with illegal immigration and drugs.
Is a new trade war taking shape between the United States and the rest of the world? On Monday, President-elect Donald Trump stepped up to the plate by threatening to impose considerable new customs duties on China, Canada and Mexico on his first day at the head of the United States, in order to fight against immigration illegal and drugs.
The future president said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, as well as an additional 10% tariff on products from China, which would be one of his first actions as President of the United States.
The country is the world’s largest importer of goods, with Mexico, China and Canada its three main suppliers, according to the latest available data.
Threats of tariffs – if implemented – risk driving up prices of food, automobiles and other goods in the United States.
During his campaign, Donald Trump had multiplied these threats which, today, seem to become more concrete. In a message published on his Truth Social website, he explained his new economic policy by the influx of migrants to the United States.
“On January 20, as one of my many first executive orders, I will sign all necessary documents to impose 25% tariffs on ALL products entering the United States and its territories on Mexico and Canada. ridiculous open borders”he wrote.
Donald Trump said the tariffs would remain in effect until “drugs, e*n particularly Fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop invading our country”*.
He added that Mexico and Canada had the capacity to resolve the problem of “people pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing crime and drugs to levels never seen before.”
Trump blames China
Mr. Trump also blamed China for the U.S. Fentanyl crisis, saying he had “had numerous discussions with China about the massive quantities of drugs, particularly Fentanyl, being sent to the United States – but to no avail.”
The president-elect said that until China stops sending drugs to the United States, he “would impose additional tariffs of 10% on China, in addition to all other tariffs, on all their products entering the United States of America.”
The Chinese Embassy in Washington said Monday, in response to this message, that both parties would lose if the United States and China engaged in a trade war.
“Economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States is mutually beneficial in nature,” embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said. on X.
It is unclear whether Mr. Trump will follow through on his threats of tariffs. His nominee for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, has repeatedly said the tariffs are a means of negotiation.
In an op-ed published by Fox News last week, Mr. Bessent said the tariffs were a “useful tool for achieving the President’s foreign policy goals.”
It wouldn’t be the first time Mr. Trump has imposed higher tariffs. During his first term, other countries retaliated by imposing tariffs of their own. Canada, for example, announced billions in new duties in 2018 against the United States in response to taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum.
Last week, a senior Chinese trade official said higher tariffs on Chinese exports would backfire on the United States by raising domestic prices for consumers.
Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen also said that China’s economy can handle the impact of these “external shocks”.
Although the president-elect did not mention Europehe proposed (link in English) several times during his campaign to impose customs duties of 10% on European Union products exported to the United States, a measure that would profoundly disrupt trade. between the European Union and the United States.