U.S. President Donald Trump said his plan to impose sweeping 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico was “on time,” as both countries continue efforts to avoid the looming tax that almost came into place at the beginning of February.
“We’re on time with the tariffs, and that’s moving along very rapidly,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. “We’re being mistreated by many countries, not just Canada and Mexico.”
The tariffs are expected to take effect March 4, a date Trump has repeated several times in recent weeks.
Those tariffs were among the first floated following Trump’s re-election this past November, with the president proposing across-the-board tariffs of 25 per cent on Canadian goods and 10 per cent on energy exports.
But Trump’s comments saying the tariffs would take effect within days is not the first time he’s made such remarks, only for changes to be made at the eleventh hour.
In the days leading up to Trump’s initial plan to impose tariffs on Feb. 4, the president appeared to show no signs of budging.
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However, just hours before the tariffs were set to take effect, Mexico announced it had reached a deal with Trump to forestall the tariffs. A short time later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on social media that Canada also secured a pause.
Yet Trump appeared firm on his March 4 plan in Monday’s comments.
“The tariffs are going forward, on time, on schedule, this is an abuse that took place for many, many years,” he said.
That threat comes even as both Canada and Mexico have taken steps to beef up border security and curb fentanyl trafficking, both asks from Trump and the reasoning behind his threatened tariffs.
This has included the appointment of a fentanyl czar by Canada to coordinate the fight against smuggling of the deadly opioid and reclassifying several drug cartels as terrorist entities. It has also deployed drones, helicopters and other surveillance technologies to its border with the U.S.
Mexico has begun deploying as many as 10,000 national guard troops to its northern border as part of its agreement with the U.S., a deal that President Claudia Sheinbaum said also called on the U.S. to work to stop the flow of firearms into Mexico.
If tariffs were to take effect, Canada has promised a response in the form of retaliatory tariffs, with the federal government having released on Feb. 2, a list of goods it would target first were the across-the-board tariffs to have come into place.
Canada is also facing the potential of tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and aluminum starting March 12, with Trump also threatening a potential 25 per cent tariff on non-American automobiles and pharmaceuticals.
— With files from Reuters and The Associated Press, and Global News’ Ashleigh Stewart
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