United States President-elect Donald Trump has announced plans to impose new tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada immediately following his inauguration on January 20.
The tariffs are designed to pressure these countries into addressing issues of illegal immigration and drug smuggling into the United States.
Trump revealed that he would sign an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada. He also plans a 10% tariff on Chinese goods until China halts the smuggling of fentanyl into the U.S., a drug linked to over 75,000 deaths in the previous year, according to U.S. data.
“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long-simmering problem,” Trump stated on his Truth Social platform. “It is time for them to pay a very big price!”
In a separate post, Trump criticized China for failing to uphold its commitment to implement the death penalty for fentanyl dealers.
However, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington rejected these claims, stating, “The idea of China knowingly allowing fentanyl precursors to flow into the United States runs completely counter to facts and reality.”
The spokesperson further emphasized, “China believes that China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature. No one will win a trade war or a tariff war.”
The Biden administration has also urged China to halt fentanyl production, with U.S. officials citing the opioid crisis as a major public health issue. Trump’s proposed tariffs align with promises made during his campaign to use tariffs as a strategic tool to address trade and policy concerns.
The Senior Fellow at the Paul Tsai China Center of Yale Law School, Stephen Roach, remarked, “It’s clearly consistent with his promise that he made during the campaign to utilize tariffs as a weapon to accomplish many of his policy initiatives.”
Trump’s planned tariffs could potentially violate the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which he signed into law in 2020. Mexico’s finance ministry responded by affirming the importance of the agreement, stating, “Mexico is the United States’ top trade partner, and the USMCA provides a framework of certainty for national and international investors.”
