BREAKING: Trump Officially Slaps Tariffs On Imports From Canada, Mexico, China
The Trump Administration on Sunday officially implemented tariffs through its new International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). President Trump has long vowed to impose tariffs on imports coming from Mexico and Canada if the two border nations do not work to curb the flow of illegal immigration into the United States.
“President Donald J. Trump is implementing a 25% additional tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% additional tariff on imports from China. Energy resources from Canada will have a lower 10% tariff,” the White House announced in a statement that was obtained by Fox News. The new tariffs will be implemented as a result of the “extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl,” which Trump recently declared as a national emergency.
It is unclear when the tariffs will take effect. Trump first pledged to impose tariffs just a week after winning re-election in November, though he later announced that he would not be making a final decision until February 1, which is today.
“There’s going to be a wide range of metrics,” one senior administration official said while speaking with reporters on Saturday night. “In Donald Trump’s golden age, we will have only legal immigration and we will have zero Americans dying from Chinese, slash Mexican, slash Canadian fentanyl,” the unnamed official added, according to a report from NBC News.
Canadian energy products will have a lower tariff rate of 10 percent in order to “minimize any disruptive effects we might have on gasoline and home heating oil prices,” the official said.
President Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a number of cabinet officials on November 30
President Trump pointed to the drug overdose crisis, which claimed 107,000 American lives in 2023, as a major factor in implementing the new policy. Nearly 70 percent of drug overdose deaths in 2023 came from opiates, including fentanyl. In addition, Trump has stated that tariffs are necessary in order to address a trade deficit between the U.S. and the three affected countries because the U.S. imports more from them than it exports.
On Tuesday morning, the president announced the formation of an “External Revenue Service” focused on collecting tariffs and revenue from foreign countries that are manipulating the international economy to the detriment of the United States. “For far too long, we have relied on taxing our Great People using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Trump cited “weak Trade agreements” without mentioning them, though he has been explicit in his condemnation of NAFTA, the decades-long deal between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico that offers both foreign countries advantageous terms to import goods with lower or nonexistent tariffs. Last month, President-elect Trump admonished Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for benefitting from a system that he alleges offers the northern neighbor a $100 billion trade surplus.
“Through soft and pathetically weak Trade agreements, the American Economy has delivered growth and prosperity to the World, while taxing ourselves,” Trump wrote. “It is time for that to change. I am today announcing that I will create the EXTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE to collect our Tariffs, Duties, and all Revenue that come from Foreign sources,” he wrote. “We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying, FINALLY, their fair share.”
When initially announcing the tariffs in November, Trump stated that they will remain in effect until Mexico and Canada take sufficient measures to curb the flow of illegal aliens and illicit drugs into the United States after record numbers of both entered the country during the Biden Administration’s tenure.
Throughout President Biden’s tenure, more than 10 million illegal aliens entered the United States. Millions of border crosses violate international asylum law — under which applicants are supposed to claim asylum in the first viable country they encounter — in order to enter the United States. In 2022 and 2023 respectively, record numbers of illegal aliens entered the United States.
“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country! Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post at the time. “We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”