President Donald Trump has announced new prices on all goods imported from the three largest American trade partners, China, Mexico and Canada.
Trump said the United States would impose 25% prices in Canada and Mexico and 10% in China. Canadian energy faces a 10%lower price.
He had threatened to impose import taxes if the three countries did not respond to his concerns about illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
Together, the trio represented more than 40% of imports in the United States last year.
“The announcement of today’s price is necessary to hold China, Mexico and Canada responsible for stopping the flood of toxic drugs in the United States,” the White House said on Saturday in a statement on X.
Trump posted on his social platform Truth: “This was done through the International Economic Economic Powers (IEEPA) law due to the major threat of illegal foreigners and deadly drugs killing our citizens , including fentanyl. “
In practical terms, a price is an internal tax taken from the goods when they enter the country, proportional to the value of importation.
China has warned against protectionism while Trump’s return to the presidency renews the threat of a trade war between the two largest economies in the world.
Chinese vice-president Ding Xuexiang told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last month that his country was looking for a “win-win” solution to exchange tensions and wanted to extend its imports.
Canada and Mexico have said that they would respond to American prices on their property with their own measures, while seeking to ensure Washington that they were taking measures to respond to concerns about their American borders.
In order to completely avoid prices, Ottawa had promised to implement $ 1.3 billion Canadian dollars ($ 900 million; 700 million pounds sterling) new security measures along its American border.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to contact the media on Saturday evening.
Canada prices come into force on Tuesday.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has published a statement before it called Trump’s “deeply disturbing decision” on prices.
The prices will have “immediate and direct consequences for Canadian and American livelihoods” and will considerably increase the cost of everything for everyone, “he said.
Explaining why he was targeting his best business partners, the White House said that Mexican cartels were responsible for fentanyl trafficking, methamphetamine and other drugs.
He said that Canada’s prices would remain until it “cooperates with the United States against drug traffickers and border security”.
Finally, he said that “China plays the central role in the fentanyl crisis” with exports of deadly synthetic pain relievers.
