Donald Trump has said he will impose tariffs of 25 percent on all imports from Canada and Mexico, and an extra 10 percent on Chinese goods, accusing the countries of permitting illegal migration and drug trafficking.
In a post on his social media site Truth Social, Trump said he would impose the tariffs on Canada and Mexico on his first day in office “on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous open borders,” which would remain in place “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country.”
Trump said the tariffs on China would apply to all imports and would come on top of existing levies, as he criticized Beijing for failing to follow through on promises to impose the death penalty for people dealing fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.9 percent against the US dollar to a four-year low, while the Mexican peso shed 1.3 percent, adding to a sharp depreciation this year. China’s onshore renminbi slipped 0.1 percent to Rmb7.25.
The announcements serve as opening shots in Trump’s confrontational new trade policy, following an election in which he campaigned on broad tariffs and lambasted the US’s trading partners. Trump had previously threatened to impose a blanket tariff of more than 60 percent on all Chinese imports.
“Stiff new tariffs on imports from the US’s three largest trading partners would significantly increase costs and disrupt business across all economies involved,” said Erica York of the Tax Foundation, a Washington-based think tank. “Even the threat of tariffs can have a chilling effect.”
China hit back at Trump’s comments, which state television CCTV labeled “irresponsible.” Beijing has sought to present itself as a guardian of open trade, despite accusations of heavily subsidizing its manufacturers and maintaining tight barriers on international companies’ access to parts of its domestic market.
“Economic globalization is an irreversible historical trend,” China’s vice-president, Han Zheng, said on Tuesday at the opening of a global supply chain expo in Beijing. He added that China would “work to build an open world economic system and safeguard the stability and unimpeded functioning of the global industrial supply chain.”
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