United States President , Trump posted on social media that the tariffs were necessary “to protect Americans,” pressing the three nations to do more to curb the manufacture and export of illicit fentanyl and for Canada and Mexico to reduce illegal immigration into the U.S. The action fulfilled one of Trump’s commitments to voters but threw the global economy and Trump’s own political mandate to lower prices into turmoil.
Trump’s order includes a mechanism to escalate the rates charged by the U.S. against retaliation by the other countries, raising the specter of an even more severe economic disruption.
President Donald Trump is taking decisive action to protect Americans from the fentanyl crisis. Fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45.
Today’s tariff announcement is necessary to hold China, Mexico, and Canada accountable for their promises to halt the flood of poisonous drugs into the United States.
Here are the facts that you need to know:
President Trump is implementing a 25 percent tariff to be paid for by Mexican producers until Mexico cooperates with the U.S. in the fight against drugs.
Mexican cartels are the world’s leading traffickers of fentanyl, meth, and other drugs. These cartels have an alliance with the government of Mexico and endanger the national security and public health of the United States.
President Trump is implementing a 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods and a 10 percent tariff on Canadian energy resources until Canada cooperates with the U.S. against drug traffickers and on border security.
There is growing production of fentanyl in Canada, and enough fentanyl was seized at the northern border last fiscal year to kill 9.8 million Americans.
Additionally, illegal border crossings from Canada reached historic new highs every year for the last four fiscal years.
President Trump is implementing a 10 percent tariff on China until we secure the full cooperation of the Chinese government in the fight against fentanyl. China plays the central role in the fentanyl crisis that is destroying American lives.
In fact, the Chinese Communist Party has subsidized Chinese chemical companies to export fentanyl. China not only fails to stem the source of illicit drugs but actively helps this business.
The Fake News is already lying about the impact of tariffs.
A 2024 study on the effects of President Trump’s tariffs during his first administration found that they “strengthened the U.S. economy” and “led to significant reshoring” in industries like manufacturing and steel production.
Even former Biden Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen affirmed last year that tariffs do not harm consumers.
The White House
CANADA, MEXICO & CHINA respond:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiaACQpFUfE Good evening. Today, the United States informed us they will be imposing a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian exports to the United States and 10 per cent on Canadian energy, a decision that, should they elect to proceed with, should take effect on Tuesday, Feb. 4.
Tonight, first I want to speak directly to Americans. Our closest friends and neighbors. This is a choice that, yes, will harm Canadians. But beyond that, it will have real consequences for you, the American people.
As I have consistently said, tariffs against Canada will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American auto assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities.
They will raise costs for you, including food at the grocery stores and gas at the pump.
They will impede your access to an affordable supply of vital goods crucial for U.S. security, such as nickel, potash, uranium, steel and aluminum.
They will violate the free trade agreement that the president and I, along with our Mexican partner, negotiated and signed a few years ago. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
As President John F. Kennedy said many years ago, geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends, economics has made us partners and necessity has made us allies.
That rang true for many decades prior to President Kennedy’s time in office, and in the decades since, from the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of the Korean Peninsula, from the fields of Flanders to the streets of Kandahar, we have fought and died alongside you during your darkest hours during the Iranian hostage crisis. Those 444 days, we worked around the clock from our embassy to get your innocent compatriots home.
During the summer of 2005, when Hurricane Katrina ravaged your great city of New Orleans, or mere weeks ago when we sent water bombers to tackle the wildfires in California. During the day, the world stood still, Sept. 11, 2001, when we provided refuge to stranded passengers and planes. We were always there, standing with you, grieving with you. The American people.
Together, we’ve built the most successful economic, military and security partnership the world has ever seen. A relationship that has been the envy of the world.
Yes, we’ve had our differences in the past, but we’ve always found a way to get past them. As I’ve said before, if President Trump wants to usher in a new golden age for the United States, the better path is to partner with Canada, not to punish us.
Canada has critical minerals, reliable and affordable energy, stable democratic institutions, shared values and the natural resources you need. Canada has the ingredients necessary to build a booming and secure partnership for the North American economy, and we stand at the ready to work together.
Let’s take a moment to talk about our shared border. Our border is already safe and secure, but there’s always, always more work to do. Less than one per cent of fentanyl, less than one per cent of illegal crossings into the United States come from Canada.
But hearing concerns from both Canadians and Americans, including the American president himself, we’re taking action. We launched a $1.3 billion border plan that is already showing results, because we, too, are devastated by the scourge that is fentanyl, a drug that has torn apart communities and caused so much pain and torment for countless families across Canada, just like in the United States.
A drug that we too want to see wiped from the face of this earth. A drug whose traffickers must be punished as neighbors, we must work collaboratively to fix this.
Unfortunately, the actions taken today by the White House split us apart instead of bringing us together.
Tonight, I am announcing Canada will be responding to the U.S. trade action with 25 per cent tariffs against a $155 billion worth of American goods. This will include immediate tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods as of Tuesday, followed by further tariffs on $125 billion worth of American products in 21 days time to allow Canadian companies and supply chains to seek to find alternatives.
Like the American tariffs, our response will also be far reaching and include everyday items such as American beer, wine and bourbon, fruits and fruit juices, including orange juice, along with vegetables, perfume, clothing and shoes.
It’ll include major consumer products like household appliances, furniture and sports equipment, and materials like lumber and plastics, along with much, much more.
And as part of our response, we are considering with the provinces and territories, several non-tariff measures, including some relating to critical minerals, energy procurement and other partnerships.
We will stand strong for Canada. We will stand strong to ensure our countries continue to be the best neighbors in the world.
With all that said, I also want to speak directly to Canadians in this moment.
I’m sure many of you are anxious, but I want you to know we are all in this together. The Canadian government, Canadian businesses, Canadian organized labor, Canadian civil society, Canada’s premiers, and tens of millions of Canadians from coast to coast to coast are aligned and united.
This is Team Canada at its best.
And now is also the time to choose Canada.
Choose Canada and pick domestic products over American items. This may mean checking the labels at the supermarket and picking Canadian products, opting for Canadian rye over Kentucky bourbon, or forgoing Florida orange juice altogether.
It might mean changing your summer vacation with plans to staying here in Canada.
It might mean doing all of these things or finding your own way to stand up for Canada. In this moment, we must pull together because we love this country. We pride ourselves on braving the cold during the long winter months. We don’t like to beat our chests, but we’re always out there waving the maple leaf loudly and proudly to celebrate an Olympic gold medal.
Canada is home to bountiful resources, breathtaking beauty, and a proud people who’ve come from every corner of the globe to forge a nation with a unique identity worth embracing and celebrating. We don’t pretend to be perfect, but Canada is the best country on earth.
There’s nowhere else that I, in our 41 million strong family, would rather be.
And we will get through this challenge just as we’ve done countless times before together.
Thank you.
Justin Trudeau Outgoing Prime Minister of Canada
In response to the American tariffs, I have directed government and crown agencies to exclude US suppliers from any new purchasing or procurement agreements.
It’s just one of the actions we are taking to prioritize Canada first.
If America thinks tariffs will crush the resolve of Canadians – they’re wrong.
We will not roll over.
BC is stepping up to do our part by: ❌ Pulling US liquor off shelves ❌ Excluding US products from government purchases
David Eby Premier, Province of British Columbia, Canada
We categorically reject the White House's slander against the Government of Mexico of having alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any intention to interfere in our territory.
If such an alliance exists anywhere, it is in the gun stores of the United States that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups, as demonstrated by the United States Department of Justice itself in January of this year.
Our government has seized more than 40 tons of drugs in four months, including 20 million doses of fentanyl. It has also arrested more than ten thousand people linked to these groups.
If the United States government and its agencies wanted to address the serious consumption of fentanyl in their country, they could, for example, combat the sale of narcotics on the streets of their main cities, which they do not do and the money laundering that is generated by this. illegal activity that has done so much damage to its population.
It could also start a massive campaign to avoid the consumption of these drugs and take care of its young people, as we have done in Mexico. The consumption and distribution of drugs is in their country and that is a public health problem that they have not addressed. Furthermore, the synthetic opioid epidemic in the United States has its origins in the indiscriminate prescription of medications of this type, authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as demonstrated by the trial against a pharmaceutical company.
Mexico does not want confrontation. We stand for collaboration between neighbouring countries. Mexico not only does not want fentanyl to reach the United States, but anywhere. Therefore, if the United States wants to combat criminal groups that traffic drugs and generate violence, we must work together in a comprehensive manner, but always under the principles of shared responsibility, mutual trust, collaboration and, above all, respect for sovereignty, which is non-negotiable. Coordination yes; subordination, no.
To do this, I propose to President Trump that we establish a working group with our best public health and safety teams.
It is not with the imposition of tariffs that the problems are resolved, but by talking and dialoguing as we did in recent weeks with your State Department to address the phenomenon of migration; in our case, with respect for human rights.
The graph that President Trump has been uploading on his social networks about the decrease in migration was prepared by my work team, which has been in constant communication with his team.
I ihave instructed the Secretary of Economy to implement plan B that we have been working on, which includes imposing tariff and non-tariff measures in defence of Mexico's interests.
Nothing by force; all for reason and right.
Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo President of Mexico
At about 8 p.m. Eastern Time on February 1, the White House released a fact sheet and announced an additional 10% tariff on Chinese products exported to the United States due to issues such as fentanyl. China is strongly dissatisfied with this and firmly opposes it.
The U.S.'s unilateral imposition of tariffs seriously violates WTO rules. It is not only ineffective in solving its own problems, but also undermines normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States. Regarding the wrong practices of the United States, China will file a lawsuit with the WTO and take corresponding countermeasures to firmly safeguard its rights and interests.
China hopes that the United States will view and handle its own fentanyl and other issues objectively and rationally, instead of threatening other countries with tariffs. China urges the United States to correct its wrong practices, meet China halfway, face problems head-on, engage in candid dialogue, strengthen cooperation, and manage differences on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, and mutual respect.
China's Ministry of Commerce
In his reaction, the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott responded to Trudeau's, press conference;
If Canada and Mexico should team up, it will have devastating consequence to the American economy with China at the background to dominate the world economy and tech...
This is not a fair fight. The US has much upper hands. All these countries rely heavily on the US import to grow their economy. Even the retaliation may harm their economy more than it would do to the US economy.
For fact check.. The US is China's biggest importer. The US import from China more than the whole EU combined.
As of Canada, they are literally reliant on the US importation (of raw materials).
Give a fool a hammer and everything looks like a nail. The World Street Journal, a paper that actually supported Trump in his second run for the presidency has come out to call Trump's tariffs the dumbest economic decision in over 50 years.
Trump's professor at Wharton, called Donald Trump the dumbest student he ever had. It is obvious.
It must be remembered that the USMCA trade deal Trump just abandoned was the very deal he negotiated during his first term! He got Canada and Mexico onboard that agreement. Now he is tearing up the same agreement he authored.
If Trump is not careful, he may trigger a recession in the global economy. Watch what happens as stock markets open tomorrow to see just how scared the markets are about this . Trump thinks that foreign countries pay the tariffs. But anyone with basic knowledge of economics knows that the cost of the tariffs is borne by the final consumer in this case, American citizens. Trump's tariffs are a tax on the American consumer.
This will stifle demand, dislodge supply chains and force multiple companies to close. Trump's first tariffs against China saw China jettison US sourced Soybeans for other markets in Brazil and Argentina. Trump had to bail out US soyabean farmers with 25 billions US dollars but yet some farms closed down and some farmers committed suicide.
There is no upside to these tariffs. It will only lead the US into economic dire straits. Trump is and idiot.
Trump has been moving like someone that wants to start a world war since he was sworn in. When he's done fighting with all the US allies, he'll understand that one man can't stand alone. By the time all these nations resolve to start trading in their local currencies like BRIC and seeking China as an alternative, Trump would have succeeded in making China the Economic capital of the world and trust me, that's a position China will never give up easily.
They will cave in to America las las. Mexico is already feeling it. Canadian economy is not even as big as texts economy. It is like ghana trying to fight nigeria. Donald trump is trying to make America a production centred economy again. God bless America.
