Donald Trump wants to impose customs duties from January, in defiance of the free trade treaty in force.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled to Florida on Friday to meet Donald Trump, who has aroused concern among the United States' neighbors by threatening them with a drastic increase in customs duties. On Monday, the president-elect said he wanted to impose customs duties of 25% on all products imported into the United States on Mexico and Canada, an announcement that shook the two countries and raised fears of a vast trade war.
It was probably in an attempt to avoid such economic hostilities that Justin Trudeau made a surprise trip to West Palm Beach on Friday to meet in person the next American president, who returns to the White House on January 20. A Canadian government source confirmed to AFP that he had come to dinner with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the billionaire's residence. The Canadian leader did not respond to journalists when returning to his hotel after the meeting.
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Retaliations envisaged
Faced with Donald Trump's announcements, Canada was quick to react. Ottawa is now examining the possibility of imposing additional customs duties on certain American items in retaliation, according to a government source. Because more than three quarters of Canadian exports in value (592 billion Canadian dollars or 400 billion euros) went to the United States in 2023. And in terms of employment, nearly 2 million people in Canada depend on exports on a population of approximately 41 million inhabitants.
Friday, in front of the press, Justin Trudeau suggested that he had no doubt about Donald Trump's intention to implement this increase announced when he came to power. “When Donald Trump makes such statements, he intends to carry them out”declared the Liberal Prime Minister, trailing in the polls by his conservative opponent a few months before the Canadian elections.
During Trump's first term, the United States imposed tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminum imports, to which Ottawa responded by targeting certain products. Regardless of the Canada-United States-Mexico free trade agreement (USMCA), Donald Trump made customs duties the backbone of his economic policy during his campaign.
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An interview with the President of Mexico
On Monday, the former and next president promised that he will maintain this surcharge “until drugs, especially fentanyl, and all illegal immigrants stop this invasion of our country!”. He spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday, but their phone call led to divergent interpretations.
The American assured that his counterpart had agreed to «stopper l’immigration» illegally heading to the United States. But Ms. Sheinbaum contradicted him, recalling that Mexico's position “is not to close the borders”. She also threatened to in turn increase Mexican customs tariffs on American products, deploring that this trade war threatens competitiveness, inflation and employment in North America.
On departure, Joe Biden judged Donald Trump's statements “counterproductive”. These neighboring countries are “allies”declared the American president on Thursday, and “the last thing you want to do is start ruining these relationships”. Donald Trump also announced on Monday that he wanted to increase customs duties on products from China by 10%.
Since he defeated Democrat Kamala Harris at the polls on November 5 and without waiting to be inaugurated on January 20 in Washington, Donald Trump has received several officials at his home in Florida: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and Argentinian President Javier Milei.
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