Trump Imposes Tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China

On February 1st, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed orders to put tariffs on the products of Mexico, Canada and China, the three biggest trading partners of the U.S.

Canada, Mexico and China in red. Source: www.mapchart.net

From CNBC:
On Saturday [February 1], Trump signed an order imposing 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, as well as a 10% duty on China. Energy resources from Canada will be hit with a lower 10% tariff to ‘minimize any disruptive effects we might have on gasoline and home heating oil prices,’ according to a senior administration official.”

Together, the U.S. does about $1.6 trillion in annual business with the three countries. Trump is seeking to use the tariffs as both bargaining chips and methods to effect foreign policy changes, specifically the immigration and drug trade issues.”

From the New York Times: “The tariffs announced Saturday target the United States’ three largest trading partners. To put that into context, in 2023, the last full year data is available, products from Mexico, China and Canada accounted for more than 40 percent of all goods that came into the United States.”

Here is Trump’s explanation of the tariffs on his Twitter X account: “Today, I have implemented a 25% Tariff on Imports from Mexico and Canada (10% on Canadian Energy), and a 10% additional Tariff on China. This was done through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) because of the major threat of illegal aliens and deadly drugs killing our Citizens, including fentanyl. We need to protect Americans, and it is my duty as President to 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.”

The tariffs are set to take effect on Tuesday, February 4th.

How will this turn out? We’re about to find out.

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One Response to Trump Imposes Tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China

  1. william kaliher says:

    like everyone I will be keeping a close eye on these economic moves. I don’t know why but for the first time in my life I picked up on something in Trump’s first term that shocked me. For some reason I never considered out foreign trade/treaty making representatives as possibly being corrupt. Then I noticed on some of these trade imbalances we were paying 35% and more on some trade items. I had to realize that does not happen without major corruption at the top or close to the top.

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