Washington (Reuters)-Companies, consumers and farmers from all over North America prepared on Friday (31) for US President Donald Trump to impose 25% rates on Canadian and Mexican imports within some hours, which could stop almost $ 1.6 trillion in annual trade.
Trump has set a deadline until Saturday to impose punitive tariffs because of their demands that Canada and Mexico take more strict measures to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and the US deadly opioid to the US.
Trump said on Thursday that he is still considering an additional 10% rate on Chinese imports to punish China for his participation in the Fentanil issue.
Sector groups were looking for any information on how Trump plans to implement tariffs, if he would impose a total of 25% with immediate effect or announce them, but would postpone their implementation to give some time to negotiations on the measures that countries could take .
Even the immediate imposition would require two or three weeks of warning before the US Customs and Border Protection Agency could start charges based on previous tariff actions.
Trump said on Thursday that he would soon decide to apply the rates to imports of Canadian and Mexican oil, an indication that he may be concerned about the impact on US gasoline prices. Oil is Canada’s main US importation and is among Mexico’s five major imports, according to US data.
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A White House spokesman said no fare ads is scheduled for Friday.
Trump’s main commercial advisor, Peter Navarro, said on Friday that tariff revenue will help pay for the extent of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which total about $ 4 trillion and expire this year.
“President Trump has a new and excellent tax cut, the biggest in history, and tariffs can easily pay for it,” Navarro told CNBC.
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Two sources familiar with the subject said that Trump was expected to invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as a legal basis for tariffs, declaring a national emergency for Fentanil overdoses-which killed almost 75,000 Americans by 2023-and immigration-and immigration. illegal.
The statute, promulgated in 1977 and modified after the attacks of September 11, 2001, gives the president ample powers to impose economic sanctions on a crisis.
Among the tools of the Commercial Law available to Trump, the Emergency Law would take the fastest way to impose broad rates, as others require long investigations from the US Commercial Department or office.
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Trump’s nominees to direct these agencies, Howard Lutnick and Jamieson Greer, have not yet been confirmed by the Senate to take over the positions. Trump used the emergency law to support a 2019 tariff threat against Mexico for border reasons.
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The imposition of tariffs would destroy a 30-year free trade system that built a highly integrated US economy, sometimes crossing the borders several times before the final assembly of a car, for example.
Economists and business executives warned that tariffs would provoke large increases in imports of product imports such as Aluminum and Madeira do Canada; Fruits, vegetables, beer and electronics of Mexico; and vehicles from both countries.
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Tariffs are paid by companies that import products, passing costs to consumers or accept lower profits, economists say.
“President Trump’s fares will first tax the United States,” said Matthew Holmes, head of public policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. “With higher costs in gasoline pumps and supermarkets, tariffs affect the cascade economy and end up damaging consumers and companies on both sides of the border. It is a situation where everyone loses.
Canada has elaborated detailed targets for immediate tariff retaliation, including Florida’s orange juice rates, Trump’s state adopted to live, a source said with the plan. Canada has a wider list of goals that could reach 150 billion Canadian dollars in US imports, but would perform public consultations before acting, the source said.
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Canada’s Minister of National Energy and Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, said Canada’s response would focus on products that harm Americans more than Canadians.
During Trump’s first term, China attacked soybeans and other US agricultural products, while the European Union attacked iconic US products, including Bourbon whiskey and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico would also retaliate, arguing that Trump’s rates would cost 400,000 US jobs and would increase prices for US consumers.
However, more recently, Sheinbaum publicly doubted that Trump will fulfill his promise to impose tariffs, saying, “Honestly, we don’t believe this will happen.”
On Sunday, Trump fought a 10-hour trade war with Colombia President Gustavo Petro threatening the South American country with 25% tariffs due to his refusal to allow US military flights loaded with Colombian deported deported. The crisis ended when Petro agreed to accept the flights.
China has been more circumscribed about its retaliation plans. Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the China Embassy in Washington, emphasized China’s cooperation with the US in containing Fentanil trafficking and said he expects the US to “not consider China’s good foster.”
An executive of a US commercial group, speaking on anonymity, said Trump’s recent comments indicating some progress over Fentanil and concerns about immigration indicated that there was a good chance that tariffs were announced but suspended . The executive added that Trump may need to support his threats with actions.
“If they continue to threaten and then not put it into practice, they will lose their credibility,” said the executive.
(Report by David Lawder and Andrea Shalal; Additional report by Jarrett Renshaw in Washington; David Ljunggren and Promit Mukherjee in Ottawa; and Cassandra Garrison in Mexico City)
