Trump imposes 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico; China is hit with 10%

WASHINGTON —President Donald Trump signed a trio of executive orders on Saturday that imposed 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% duty on imports from China as he sought to force the countries to clamp down on the flow of migrants and fentanyl across their borders and into the U.S.

An exception was made for Canadian energy, including natural gas and oil. Tariffs on energy imports from Canada were set at a lower rate of 10%, a White House official said, to minimize the potential for disruptions in gasoline and home heating prices.

The new tariffs on imports from all three nations are on top of existing duties. They are expected to go into effect on Tuesday.

Tariffs have been central to Trump’s economic strategy, and part of an attempt to increase tax revenue and protect jobs. He has also used them as a negotiating tool, threatening tariffs against countries as a way to achieve a myriad of policy concessions.

The leaders of Canada and Mexico said they would respond with retaliatory tariffs of their own.

Mexico's president Claudia Sheinbaum said she would be imposing retaliatory tariffs and lashed out at Trump’s suggestion that the Mexican government was collaborating with drug traffickers.

If the U.S. wanted to address the serious consumption of fentanyl they could “combat the sale of narcotics on the streets of their main cities, which they do not do” according to Google translation of her post on X.

Problems are not resolved by imposing tariffs, but by talking and dialoguing,” she added.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to the U.S. trade action with 25% tariffs of its own against $155 billion worth of American goods.

That includes immediate tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods as of Tuesday, followed by further tariffs on $125 billion worth of American products in 21 days, he said.

Trump’s action will not only harm Canadians but will have “real consequences” for the American people, said Trudeau.“(It) will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American auto assembly, plants and other manufacturing facilities,” he said. “They will raise costs for you, including food at the grocery store and gas at the pump.”

This move will also obstruct access to materials crucial for U.S. security, such as nickel uranium, steel and aluminum, he said.

They will violate the free trade agreement that the president and I, along with our Mexican partner, negotiated and signed a few years ago,” he said.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But in response to a previous inquiry on the tariffs, embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said, "China will also firmly defend its own interests."

Trump also noted in his executive orders that if the targeted countries retaliate against the tariffs imposed, he "may increase or expand in scope the duties imposed under This Executive Order to ensure the efficacy of this action.

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Trump weighing a universal tariff

Trump is also debating a universal tariff and fees on the European Union but has not specified how much they would be and did not impose them on Saturday. He told reporters Friday that he was looking to hike tariffs on steel, aluminum, and eventually, copper. Tariffs on pharmaceuticals and computer chips are also on their way, he said.

The tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China send a powerful message that the United States will no longer stand by as other nations fail to halt the flow of illegal drugs and immigrants into our country," House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., said a statement.

The chairman of the House's tax-writing committee said U.S. must "use all available tools including tariffs" to fight drug trafficking and fentanyl distribution.

Canada and Mexico are the top sources of U.S. crude imports, together accounting for around one-quarter of the oil U.S. refiners process into fuels such as gasoline and heating oil, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

In 2022, Canada accounted for 60% of crude oil imports to the U.S., while 10% of crude oil came from Mexico, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Refineries purchase crude oil to produce gasoline, diesel fuel, and other petroleum products

Democrats accused him of waging a trade war in statements responding to his tariffs on Saturday, in which they took issue with Trump imposing a higher rate of duties on U.S. allies Mexico and Canada than he did on competitor nation China.

While China is stealing our technology and actively undermining American industry, Trump is cracking down more than twice as hard on maple syrup and avocados from Canada and Mexico. How does that make sense?" Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a post on X.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul also raised concerns about the potential inflationary effect of the tariffs on the social media platform. "Tariffs are simply taxes. Conservatives once united against new taxes. Taxing trade will mean less trade and higher prices."

"We won the last election by complaining about Democrats' policies, which gave us high prices. Tariff lovers will be forced to explain the persistence of high prices," Paul, a libertarian from Kentucky, said

Trump relies on national emergency authority to impose tariffs

The White House said Saturday that Trump was utilizing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to impose tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada.

IEEPA gives the president authority to deal with any "unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States, if the President declares a national emergency with respect to such threat."