Trump sets date for tariffs on Mexico and Canada
UNITED STATES - The President of the United States, Donald Trump, said in his first cabinet meeting, that he will not stop the tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico, and added that not all of them will be imposed, but many will be.
The Republican leader specified that the tariffs on his trade partners in the USMCA will be applied next April 2.
“On April 2,” Trump replied to the question of when the customs tariffs will be applied after he gave Canada and Mexico a month's deadline in early February to find an agreement.
“I'm not going to stop tariffs, no. Millions of people have died from fentanyl coming across the border,” he added during his first cabinet meeting.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration had set March 4 as the effective date for the 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and non-energy goods from Canada.
Trump's statement was given in the framework of his first Executive meeting, hours before Mexico's security cabinet meets in Washington with the head of US diplomacy, Marco Rubio. The meeting is precisely to try to avoid the tariffs that, in the absence of an agreement, should theoretically come into force next Tuesday.
The Republican acknowledged that the number of illegal migrant crossings across the border with Mexico fell drastically but attributed it to his policies.
"The data have been good, but that is also due to us. In large part, to us. Right now it's very difficult to get across the border,” Trump declared.
But “the damage is already done,” he said, referring to fentanyl overdose deaths, which kill tens of thousands of people a year in the United States.
"The fentanyl comes mainly from China, already subject to tariffs, but it comes through Mexico and Canada,” Trump said.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the Trump Administration could again postpone the 25% tariffs that the president announced for Canada and Mexico if both neighbors demonstrate progress in the fight against fentanyl trafficking and border security.
