After a month-long delay, President Donald Trump is ready to launch tariffs on the United States’ closest trading partners.
Goods imported from Canada and Mexico will face a 25% tariff under Trump's plan. Citing a supposed flow of illegal drugs from the two nations, the president announced in a post to Truth Social that the duties he had previously paused would begin on Tuesday.
"Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels. A large percentage of these Drugs, much of them in the form of Fentanyl, are made in, and supplied by, China," he wrote. "We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled."
The tariffs on Canada and Mexico were initially scheduled to take effect at the beginning of February. Trump paused them after striking a deal with the two nations.
Trump added that an additional 10% tariff on China would go into effect on Tuesday. That new duty comes in on top of a 10% tariff he enacted earlier this month. China responded to those initial tariffs with their own tariffs on American oil and machinery products.
The tariffs come as Americans brace for the economic impacts of a second Trump administration, with consumer confidence falling to its lowest level since 2021.
