President Donald Trump raised tariffs on China to 20 percent, up from 10 percent, and a 25 percent import tax on Canada and Mexico also came into effect.
U.S. tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China came into effect this week, in a move President Donald Trump said he hopes will speed up the process of solving the U.S. drug crisis.
Trump has blamed China for its failure to control the flow of illicit drugs, particularly fentanyl, that have been entering the country through Mexico and Canada.
On March 4, Trump raised tariffs on China to 20 percent, up from 10 percent initially imposed on Feb. 4.
China responded by saying it would impose an additional 15 percent tariff on some agricultural goods. This is on top of an existing 15 percent already in place.
A 25 percent import tax on Canada and Mexico was also put into place, with a lower 10 percent tax on Canadian energy products.
On March 6, Trump amended the tariffs on Mexico and Canada, saying he had received a solid commitment to solving the fentanyl crisis.
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All goods that fall under a previous agreement called the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) have been put on pause until April 2.
This equates to approximately 50 percent of goods imported from Mexico and nearly 38 percent from Canada. Car imports were the leading factor in making this deal.
Trump initially announced the tariffs at the beginning of February, then gave a 30-day pause following his discussions with Canada and Mexico.
Mexico sent 10,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.–Mexico border and Canada announced a $1.3 billion border plan to control the situation.
This comes on top of an already existing 25 percent import tax on steel and aluminium globally that Trump has extended to go into effect on March 12, with the elimination of previous exemptions for Canada, Mexico, South Korea, and Argentina.
Part of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign promise was to revive the United States’ industries and stop what he sees as other countries’ unfair trade practices.
On March 1, Trump initiated a fresh probe into lumber imports, declaring America’s vulnerabilities in the wood supply chain a national security threat and ordering the expansion of American timber production.
If tariffs on timber do come into effect, this will have a big impact on countries like Canada, Germany, and Brazil, which are some of the biggest lumber exporters into the country.
During Trump’s first Cabinet meeting on Feb. 25 he also announced 25 percent reciprocal tariffs on all imports from the EU, specifically cars, as well as declaring the country’s vulnerabilities in copper supply a national security threat.
Trump has blamed the European Union as having an unfair advantage over the United States, namely via VAT, and has talked about levelling the playing field.
Semiconductors and pharmaceuticals are also in the pipeline as announced on Jan. 27, but no specific rate commencement date has yet been mentioned.
The United States has an existing 20 percent tariff on all solar panel and washing machine imports first imposed in 2018, which Trump continued into his second term.
Emel Akan contributed to this report.
