The US president retracted his statement made on Wednesday and said on Thursday morning that the planned 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada will go into effect next month as planned.
U.S. President Donald Trump retracted his statement made on Wednesday and said Thursday morning that the planned 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada will go into effect on March 4 as planned.
Trump also announced that China would be subject to an additional 10% tariff on that day, according to a post on his Truth Social platform.
“Drugs continue to flow into our Country from Mexico and Canada at unacceptably high levels. A large percentage of these drugs, many in the form of fentanyl, are manufactured and supplied in China. Over 100,000 people died last year due to the distribution of these dangerous and highly addictive poisons. Millions of people have died over the past two decades,” Trump wrote.
He went on to say: “The families of the victims are devastated and, in many cases, virtually destroyed. We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the U.S., and so until it is stopped or seriously limited, the proposed tariffs scheduled to go into effect on March 4 will, in fact, go into effect as scheduled. China will also be required to pay an additional 10% tariff on that date. The Second Reciprocal Tariff date of April will remain in full force and effect. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
On Wednesday, Trump reviewed the entry into force of the general tariff of 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada from March 4 to April 2.
“April 2,” Trump said in response to a question about when tariffs would be implemented, speaking to reporters at his first cabinet meeting at the White House on Wednesday.
Also Wednesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during the same meeting that if Canada and Mexico can demonstrate they have done an “excellent job” on the fentanyl issue, tariffs could be postponed beyond March 4. However, he also suggested the countries could still face tariffs, noting that “the big transaction is April 2.”
This is not the first time that Trump has caused confusion with his statements, which tend to be short, poorly worded responses and, at times, contain biased or erroneous data or arguments.
In a previous statement, he confused China with Mexico when referring to the imposition of tariffs, while there is some complexity given the series of different sectors involved in Trump's executive orders related to the imposition of tariffs on different dates proposed and, in some cases, postponed.
