Donald Trump has doubled down on his plans to impose 25% tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico imports into the US in line with his campaign promises.
These tariffs he said are to force them to crack down on illegal immigration and drug smuggling into the US.
Trump Campaign Tariff Promise
During his presidential campaign, Trump stated that companies that ship goods to the U.S. would face a 10% to 20% tariff, while Chinese imports would get a 60% tariff.
Trump said this was to stem the flow of drugs and other illegal goods into the US as well as to help safeguard the US.
Latest Tariff Announcement
In two posts on his “Truth Social” app, Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, 2025, said he would impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico until they clamped down on drugs, particularly fentanyl, and migrants crossing the border.
He posted “On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders”.
He also separately outlined “an additional 10% tariff, above any additional tariffs” on imports from China, having already pledged to end China’s most-favored-nation trading status and slap tariffs on Chinese imports over 60%.
However, this violates the free trade agreement between the US – Canada – and Mexico and is set to trigger a trade war with America’s three biggest trading partners. In 2023, more than 83% of exports from Mexico went to the US and 75% of Canadian exports went into the country.
The Fentanyl Problem
Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as an analgesic (pain relief) and anesthetic. The drug is 100 times more powerful than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as an analgesic.
Mexico and China are the primary source countries for fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked directly into the United States with China supplying the chemicals used to produce the drug. At the same time, Mexico cartels are involved in smuggling the drug into the US.
In 2022, Fentanyl was responsible for 76,226 deaths in the US while in 2023 the drug accounted for 74,702 estimated deaths.
Significance
With the imposition of the imminent tariffs, there is a trade war expected which could have a global impact, especially regarding a face-off between the US and China.
