The elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced that on his very first day after the inauguration, he will impose new tariffs on imports. The tariffs will be set at 25% for goods coming from Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10% on top of existing tariffs for imports from China.
According to statistics, the U.S. is the largest importer in the world. Its main trading partners and exporters are Mexico, Canada, and China.
Economists warn that such tariffs could lead to an increase in prices for food, cars, and other goods.
The proposal to introduce effectively prohibitive tariffs was one of the main points of the Republican's election campaign, and this week he reiterated it on the social network Truth Social. He justified the need for such changes by citing an excessive number of migrants who, according to him, allegedly bring drugs and then commit crimes on U.S. soil.
"On January 20, as one of my first executive orders, I will sign all the necessary documents to impose 25% tariffs on ALL goods coming into the United States through their ridiculous open borders," he wrote.
Donald Trump stated that the tariffs will remain in place "until drugs, particularly fentanyl, and all illegal migrants cease their invasion of our country!".
He added that Mexico and Canada are capable of addressing the issue of "people crossing through Mexico and Canada, bringing crime and drugs at unprecedented levels".
Trump Blames China
Donald Trump also accused Beijing of the fentanyl crisis in the U.S., claiming that he has "spoken many times with China about the enormous quantities of drugs, particularly fentanyl, that are entering the United States — but to no avail."
The elected president asserts that China is supplying fentanyl to the U.S., and until it stops, he will "impose an additional 10% tariff on China."
The Chinese Embassy in Washington responded to this statement by emphasizing that a trade war between the U.S. and China would result in losses for both sides.
"China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial by nature," wrote embassy representative Liu Pengyu on social network X.
It remains unclear whether Trump will follow through on his threat to impose tariffs. His nominee for Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, has repeatedly stated that tariffs are a negotiation tool.
In an article for Fox News published last week, Bessent stated that tariffs are a "useful tool for achieving the president's foreign policy goals."
Donald Trump raised import tariffs during his previous term as well. At that time, other countries responded with their own tariffs. For instance, Canada imposed billion-dollar tariffs against the U.S. in 2018 in response to tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
Last week, Deputy Commerce Secretary Wang Shouwen stated that the Chinese economy could handle the impacts of such "external shocks" and that increasing tariffs on Chinese exports would have the opposite effect in the U.S., raising domestic prices for consumers.
Although the elected president did not mention Europe, during his campaign he suggested several times that he would introduce a 10% tariff on goods from the European Union exported to the U.S. — a measure that would severely disrupt trade between the EU and the U.S.