WASHINGTON—After a flurry of diplomatic meetings focused on Ukraine last week, President Donald Trump is now shifting his attention to trade, with plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada and double the additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports, starting March 4.
While Mexico and Canada remain hopeful about resolving the issue and delaying the tariffs, Trump expressed disappointment over the lack of progress in addressing fentanyl trafficking.
In a Truth Social post on Feb. 27, Trump stated that drugs, primarily fentanyl, supplied by China are still being smuggled into the United States through the borders of Canada and Mexico at “unacceptable levels.”
“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,” Trump wrote. “China will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date.”
Last month, Trump had outlined plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, though Canadian energy products such as oil and natural gas will be subject to a lower 10 percent tax.
Canada and Mexico had previously secured a 30-day pause in the tariffs after the two countries’ leaders agreed to take measures aimed at lowering the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants into the United States.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to send 10,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.–Mexico border. And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he had implemented a $1.3 billion border plan and appointed a new Fentanyl Czar.
Speaking to Fox News on March 2, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed that Trump will impose tariffs on both Canada and Mexico but noted they may not be as high as 25 percent since both countries “have done a reasonable job on the border.”
“They have done a lot, so he’s sort of thinking about right now how exactly he wants to play it with Mexico and Canada, and that is a fluid situation,” Lutnick said.
Hope for Last-Minute Agreement
In response to Trump’s announcement that tariffs will proceed as planned, Sheinbaum stated last week that she hoped to have a call with Trump and expressed optimism that an agreement could be reached to avoid the tariffs.“We know President Trump has his way of communicating,” she said on Feb. 27 at a press conference.
She added that her goal is to protect the existing trade treaty, USMCA, between the United States, Mexico and Canada.
“I hope we can reach an agreement and on March 4 we can announce something else,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ottawa is bracing for a leadership change as Trudeau steps down. Canada’s next prime minister will be selected on March 9 following a leadership race within the governing Liberal Party. Hence, the incoming prime minister will inherit a tariff dispute with the United States.
Trump also announced an additional 10 percent tariffs across all Chinese imports, after the initial 10 percent tariffs went into effect on Feb. 4.
In response, Beijing imposed counter tariffs last month on multiple U.S. products, and also announced an investigation into Google.
‘This is Not a Trade War’
Peter Navarro, White House senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, defended the Trump administration’s use of tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China to curb the flow of fentanyl into the United States.“The president is fighting a drug war. This is not a trade war,” Navarro said on Feb. 4. during a Politico Playbook event.
Critics, including business groups, argue that the proposed tariffs will cause more harm than good, raising costs for consumers and straining relations with America’s top trading partners—although the Trump administration has pushed back saying that his first term tariffs on China didn’t result in the increased costs that critics warned about. However, many families affected by the surge of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids back Trump’s decision.
“For $12, you can buy four fentanyl pills,” Christine Bish of Sacramento, California, who lost her daughter to a fentanyl overdose in 2022, told The Epoch Times.
“You can order them on Snapchat and they’ll be delivered to your house. It’s easier to get than pizza.”
Fentanyl overdose is the leading cause of death for U.S. citizens aged 18 to 45. The drug, along with other synthetic opioids, accounted for roughly 69 percent of all overdose deaths in the United States in 2023, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
When asked about whether he would continue to pause tariffs on Mexico and Canada before this cabinet meeting on Feb. 26, Trump said, “I’m not stopping the tariffs, no. Millions of people have died because of the fentanyl that comes over the border.”
Trump acknowledged that there has been a significant drop in the flow of illegal migrants into the United States but he said there hasn’t been much progress in addressing fentanyl.
“Look, the damage has been done. We’ve lost millions of people due to fentanyl. It comes mostly from China but it comes through Mexico, and it comes through Canada,” he said.
Impact of Tariffs on Consumers
The top goods imported from Mexico and Canada include vehicles, machinery and equipment, and mineral fuels.The existing trade treaty among the three countries has enabled auto supply chains to become highly integrated across North America.
According to Clark Packard, a research fellow at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, imposing new tariffs is the wrong approach and will hinder efforts to bolster domestic manufacturing.
“Imposing heavy tariffs every time a part or an auto crosses the border would cripple automotive and parts manufacturers, and sabotage a key competitive advantage against their European and Asian rivals,” he wrote in a recent report.
He said that tariffs could drive up inflation in car prices.
During a press conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Feb. 27, Trump again dismissed the argument that tariffs will raise prices, hurting American consumers.
“It’s a myth that’s put out there by foreign countries that really don’t like paying tariffs,” he said.
“I put massive tariffs on China during my four years. We had the best economy in the history of our country,” he said. “We’re going to bring our car industry back.”
