By Doina Chiacu and Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his proposed 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods will go into effect on March 4 and threatened an extra 10% duty on Chinese imports because deadly drugs are still pouring into the U.S. from those countries.
Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site that he would impose the additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods on March 4. This would come on top of the 10% tariff that he levied on Feb. 4 on imports from China over the fentanyl opioid crisis.
Trump said drugs, namely fentanyl, were still coming into the U.S. at “very high and unacceptable levels,” with a large percentage of them the deadly opioid fentanyl.
“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled,” Trump added. “China will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date.”
Trump decided to add the extra tariffs on China and stick to the Tuesday deadline for Canada and Mexico given what his administration sees as insufficient progress reducing fentanyl deaths, a White House official told Reuters.
“There are ongoing discussions with the Chinese, Mexico and Canada. We’ve gotten a good handle on the migration issue, but there are still concerns on the other issue of fentanyl deaths,” the official said.
The official said White House officials including deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and border czar Tom Homan were closely monitoring information on fentanyl deaths and field reports from law enforcement around the country.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 72,776 people died from synthetic opioids in 2023 in the U.S., chiefly from fentanyl.
DEADLINE CLARITY
Trump’s statement cleared up some confusion that he sowed on Wednesday over deadlines for the punishing tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods that the president has threatened over the fentanyl crisis and U.S. border security.
Trump’s comments on the matter during his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday seemed to suggest that he may push the deadline back for about one month until April 4.
But subsequent comments from Trump administration officials indicated that the April deadline was for Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” matching import duty rates of other countries and offsetting their other restrictions. His trade advisers consider European countries’ value added taxes to be akin to a tariff.
Kevin Hassett, the top White House economic adviser, told CNBC television on Thursday that Trump would determine new tariffs after a study is completed by April 1.
“The schedule is that there’s a study coming out on April 1, and after that the president is going to decide what to do about tariff policies for all countries,” he said, but specifically mentioning Mexico and Canada.
TARIFF, BORDER TALKS
Meanwhile, Canadian and Mexican officials were due to meet with Trump administration counterparts in Washington on Thursday and Friday to try to forestall the tariffs, which could deal a serious blow to a highly integrated North American economy.
Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard will meet with newly confirmed U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Thursday and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday.
In Canada, Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said on Thursday that the progress Canada has made on tightening security along the border with the United States and combating drug smuggling should satisfy the Trump administration.
“The evidence is irrefutable – progress is being made,” McGuinty said in televised remarks to reporters in Washington ahead of two days of talks with U.S. officials.
“In my view, any test that was put on Canada in terms of showing progress and meeting standards for the border – I believe those have been met,” he said.
The Canada Border Services Agency said in a statement that it was launching a targeted, cross-country initiative to intercept illegal contraband arriving and leaving the country, with a focus on fentanyl and other synthetic narcotics.
China, in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, said China and the United States should address concerns in economic and trade fields through equal dialogue and consultation.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Andrea Shalal; additional reporting by David Lawder in Washington, Disha Mishra in Bengaluru and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Writing by David Lawder and Joseph Ax; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alistair Bell)
