By : Lloyd Mahachi
US President Donald Trump will impose tariffs on 1 February 2025, of 25% on Mexico, 25% on Canada and 10% on China, says the White House.
But Trump said on Friday that Canadian oil would be impacted with lower tariffs of 10%, which could take effect later, on 18 February.
The president also said he planned to impose tariffs on the European Union in the future, saying the bloc had not treated the US well.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Canada and Mexico duties were in response to “the illegal fentanyl that they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country leading to the fatalities of tens of millions of Americans”.
Trump has also repeatedly said the move was to address the large amounts of undocumented migrants that have come into united states.
Ms Leavitt told a news briefing at the White House on Friday: “These are promises made and promises kept by the President during his campaign.”
During the election campaign, Trump threatened to hit Chinese made products with tariffs of up to 60%, but held off on any immediate action on his first day back in the White House.
US goods imports from China have flattened since 2018, a statistic that economists have attributed in part to a series of escalating tariffs that Trump imposed during his first term.
Trump’s tariffs hit China hard before.
Earlier this month, a top Chinese official warned against protectionism as Trump’s return to the presidency renews the threat of a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies – but did not mention the US by name.
Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Ding Xuexiang, Vice Premier of China, said his country was seeking a resolution to trade tensions and wanted to expand its imports.
China, Canada and Mexico are the key US trading partners, accounting for 40% of the goods imported into the US the past year, and fears are rising that the new steep levies could kick off a major trade war as well as push up prices in the US.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday: “It’s not what we want, but if he moves forward, we will also act accordingly.”
Canada and Mexico have already said that they would respond to US tariffs with measures of their own.
If US imports of oil from Canada and Mexico are hit with levies it risks undermining Trump’s promise to bring down the cost of living.
Tariffs are an import tax on goods that are produced from foreign countries.
Around 40% of the crude that runs through US oil refineries is imported, and the vast majority of it comes from Canada.
On Friday, Trump agreed tariff costs are sometimes passed along to consumers and that his plans may cause disruption in the short-term.
Editor : Josephine Mahachi