“We need to protect Americans, and it is my duty as President o ensure the safety of all. I made a promise on my Campaign to stop the flood of illegal aliens and drugs from pouring across our Borders, and Americans overwhelmingly voted in favor of it,” Trump stated on his Truth Social account.
Trump signed the tariff orders on Saturday and the same are to take effect from 12.01 am on Tuesday, February 4, Bloomberg reported, citing White House officials, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity. There is no clarity if that offers a last-chance window for a deal.The US President has repeatedly mentioned he would carry on with his threat to hit imports from Mexico and Canada from Saturday, February 1. During his election campaign, Trump had threatened to levy tariffs on Chinese-made products of up to 60%. However, he did not follow through with any immediate action on his first day in the White house, but ordered his administration to study the issue.
On another note, Canada is set to introduce escalating retaliatory counter-tariffs to try to turn Americans against President Donald Trump’s 25% levies on Canadian goods, a threat that’s causing the country to rethink its dependence on its southern neighbor.
“You will find when we do respond, at least initially, that we will focus on tariffing American goods that actually are sold in significant quantities in Canada, and especially those for which there are readily available alternatives for Canadians,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson had said in an interview on Friday.
Former Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, a candidate to succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister, suggested hitting Trump ally Elon Musk directly by applying a 100% tariff on Tesla Inc. electric vehicles.
Canada wants to avoid tariffs, but if Trump isn’t deterred, the levies will expand “stepwise,” and ministers are “not taking anything off the table in terms of options for the future,” Wilkinson said from his office in North Vancouver.
