WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday said there is “no room left” for the leaders of Canada and Mexico to stop his long-pledged 25% tariffs on imports from the two U.S. North American neighbors from taking effect after midnight.
“No room left for Mexico or for Canada,” Trump said while announcing a new investment related to duties at the White House. “No, the tariffs, you know, they are all set. They go into effect tomorrow.”
Earlier in the event, Trump confirmed he would keep the fee 25%, the same as his original proposal after his commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, had said the president was still deciding exactly what the tariff would look like.
While Trump has made tariffs a major focus on his economic and trade agenda, as he banks on the move bringing and keeping manufacturing jobs in America, appearing on CNN on Monday, Lutnick stressed that the levies on Canada and Mexico are about fentanyl and the border. He noted that the administration believes the two countries have done a “good job” at addressing Trump’s border concerns — arrests for illegal crossings fell 39% in January from the month prior — but need to do more to address the influx of fentanyl into the U.S. across the border.
“They’re both working hard on the border," Lutnick said. "You know we’ve had the lowest crossings ever — ever — under Donald Trump because of his ability to negotiate with Canada and Mexico, but the fentanyl continues to come into this country and continues to murder our people.”
As part of Tuesday's tariffs, the president is also set to impose another 10% duty on imports from China. That is on top of a 10% tariff he imposed on goods from Beijing last month over fentanyl concerns.
Asked how high he was willing to go in tariffs on China, the president said it depends on what any potential retaliation from Beijing looks like. Although, he added he doesn’t “think they're going to retaliate too much.”
In an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued that China would “eat any tariffs that go on.”
“China will pay for the China tariffs, because their business model is exporting their way out of this inflation,” he said. “They are the most imbalanced, unbalanced economy in modern times, and the idea that because of a tariff, that they would lower their production is wrong.”
The president’s plan to impose a 25% fee on imports coming from America’s neighbors to the north and south as well as a 10% one on goods from China dates back to well before he officially took office in late January. While the additional 10% tariff on imports from China took effect last month, Trump pushed back the start date on those on Mexico and Canada until March 4 after securing agreements from the two countries to work to crack down on the flow of migrants and fentanyl into the U.S.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum sought to make the case at a news conference Monday that her country had made good on pledged improvements and said she will decide how to respond based on what Trump announces.
Last week, Mexico sent 29 drug cartel figures to the U.S., and security forces have dismantled more than 100 synthetic drug labs in Sinaloa.
Sheinbaum added that the two countries have been communicating and it is possible she could speak with the U.S. leader Monday.
Since taking office six weeks ago, Trump has proposed a robust plan to implement tariffs, including on all steel and aluminum imports. He launched investigations into whether to impose similar fees on imports of copper and lumber. His most sweeping proposal on the topic is his announced reciprocal tariffs on major trading partners, which he said will go into effect April 2, in response to the U.S. being treated unfairly when it comes to trade, he argues, for years. He asserted that despite being a “huge fan” of former President Ronald Reagan, he was “very bad” when it came to trade.
The president made the comments on Mexico and Canada at an event announcing an investment from chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to build plants in the U.S., which Trump touted as an example of a company getting “ahead of the game” to avoid tariffs.
Despite warnings from some economists about the impact Trump’s far-reaching tariff plan could have on costs at home, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued in an interview with CBS News on Sunday that similar fees on imports imposed in Trump’s first term in the White House “did not affect prices.”
“And it's a holistic approach, that there will be tariffs, there will be cuts in regulation, there will be cheaper energy,” Bessent continued. “So I would expect that very quickly we will be down to the Fed's 2% target [for inflation].”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
