Canadian and Mexican products | Donald Trump plans to impose customs taxes of 25%

The first signs of a trade war emerged Monday on Truth Social, where Donald Trump announced that one of his first acts as president would be to slap tariffs of 25%. A threat that the Trudeau government greeted with a certain stoicism, but perceived by Quebec as a “huge risk” for the economy.

“On January 20, one of my first many executive orders will be to sign all necessary documents to impose 25% tariffs on ALL products entering the United States on Mexico and Canada,” the president-elect wrote in a publication on his Truth Social network.

“This tax will remain in effect until drugs, especially fentanyl, and all illegal immigrants stop this invasion of our country!” Both Canada and Mexico have the absolute right and power to easily resolve this long-standing problem,” he added.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the issue during a telephone discussion with Donald Trump. He called the president-elect immediately after his publication; the two men talked about border security and trade, a senior government source said.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who led the tumultuous renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the first Trump administration, reacted cautiously to this exit in her joint statement with her colleague at Security public, Dominic LeBlanc.

“Canada and the United States enjoy one of the strongest and closest relationships in the world, particularly on trade and border security. It is a priority for Canada to ensure the security and integrity of its borders,” they said.

“Our relationship is balanced and mutually beneficial, especially for American workers,” the two ministers also underlined, referring to the negative consequences that the imposition of such tariffs could have on the economy south of the border.

“We will, of course, continue to discuss these issues with the new administration,” they concluded. And the government pointed out that last year, the American border agency made 2,475,669 arrests on the southern border with Mexico, compared to 10,171 on the Canadian-American border.

In Quebec, Prime Minister François Legault was quick to express his concern about the promise which “poses an enormous risk to the Quebec and Canadian economy”, maintaining that it was necessary “to do everything possible to avoid tariffs of 25% on all products exported to the United States.

And since the president-elect mentions the border as the reason behind the imposition of these punitive tariffs, Prime Minister Legault stressed that the federal government must make the integrity of the border “a priority”.

“I offer the full cooperation of the Government of Quebec to Prime Minister Trudeau,” he concluded.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who raised the idea of ​​Canada concluding a new trade agreement with the United States without Mexico to avoid being the target of tariffs, said the Donald Trump’s threat, if carried out, would have serious consequences.

“A 25% tariff would be devastating for workers and jobs in Canada and the United States. The federal government must take the situation at our border seriously. We need a Team Canada approach and response — and we need it now,” he wrote on X.

The signal sent by Donald Trump testifies to the urgency of a meeting between the 13 prime ministers of the Council of the Federation and their federal counterpart Justin Trudeau, he took the opportunity to plead. The Canadian Prime Minister’s office did not confirm on Monday whether a meeting was planned in the short term.

“Justin Trudeau, you can’t keep your head buried in the sand. Stand up and fight like never before. Canadian jobs are at stake,” urged New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh on the X network.

Former Environment Minister Catherine McKenna turned to the Bluesky network to express her discouragement: “It’s gone. The amount of time and energy our government had to devote to Trump last time was crazy.”

“If Poilievre thinks he’s got Trump, good luck,” she added.

The conservative leader did not post anything on his social networks Monday about Donald Trump’s threat.

“We will have to respond”

“It’s a little weird to use tariffs to settle fentanyl and migration issues. It’s just a measure to punish,” notes Patrick Leblond, associate professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.

The maneuver is reminiscent of that of 2018, when Donald Trump used national security arguments to impose a surtax on Canadian steel and aluminum products. And according to Mr. Leblond, if the Republican does it again, Ottawa’s response will have to be the same: reciprocal retaliatory measures.

“We will have to respond, because that’s how Donald Trump works,” explains the professor. We must identify American products imported into Canada that come from counties dominated by Republicans so that these people can put pressure on the Trump administration to reverse course.”

The list concocted by the Liberals in 2018 targeted dozens of American products such as bourbon, playing cards, sleeping bags, toilet paper, soy sauce and ketchup. Tariffs on these items were lifted after Washington backed down on its tariffs after about a year.

10% more for China

In a separate publication, Donald Trump announced an increase in customs taxes of 10%, which would be added to those already existing and to those additional that he could decide, on “all the numerous products arriving from China to the United States “.

He explained that he had often raised the problem of the influx of drugs, particularly fentanyl, one of the main culprits of the opioid crisis in the United States, with Chinese officials who promised to punish him severely, “until the end of the year.” death penalty”, “traffickers”.

“But they never got to the end of things,” he regrets.

The increase in customs duties, which he often described as his “favorite expression” during his campaign, is one of the keys to the future economic policy of the president-elect, who is not afraid of relaunching trade wars, notably with China, started during his first mandate.

Concerning China, he promised customs duties of up to 60% for certain products, or even 200% on vehicle imports from Mexico.

American laws give the president the necessary tools to implement customs duties by decree, as Donald Trump was able to do several times during his first term, on Chinese and European steel and aluminum for example.

With Agence France-Presse