Biden's mistake was simple - he tried to electrify the US with solar and wind power, without the US having any serious industry, because everything was outsourced to China. Now Trump is trying to do it right.
"President Trump's 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico took effect Tuesday, after the president declared there was "no room left" for negotiations with America's neighbors.
"Tomorrow, tariffs -- 25% on Canada, and 25% on Mexico -- and that will start tomorrow," Trump said Monday at the White House. "So they're going to have a tariff, and what they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things, in the United States, in which case you have no tariffs."
The 25% tariffs will apply to all imports from Mexico and Canada, with the exception of energy products like crude oil and natural gas, which will be tariffed at 10%. Canada said Monday night that it would impose retaliatory tariffs.
U.S. stocks fell in afternoon trading after Trump confirmed the tariffs would move forward. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 2.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5%, or about 650 points, and the S&P 500 declined 1.8%.
Trump previously delayed the tariffs for a month as those countries agreed to address fentanyl and migration, but his team has indicated he isn't yet satisfied with the drug-smuggling progress.
Trump, a Republican, imposed an additional 10% in tariffs on goods from China, on top of 10% duties he imposed in February and other tariffs already in place on the world's second-largest economy. China said Tuesday it will take countermeasures to protect its interests.
Trump's Monday announcement appeared to cap off a flurry of negotiations between the North American governments over how to avoid the tariffs.
Canadian officials met in Washington last week with U.S. border czar Tom Homan and members of Congress to press their case that Canada was tightening border security in response to Trump's concerns about fentanyl and migration. They left unsure of what Trump wants, said Canada's immigration minister, Marc Miller.
"It's a moving target, and that's frustrating," Miller said.
Trump is likely imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 1977 law that allows the president wide authority in tariffs and economic sanctions when he declares a national emergency. That was the law used to justify the 10% tariff increase on China in February, as well as the previously threatened Canada and Mexico tariffs, before they were kicked down the road to Tuesday's deadline.
U.S. carmakers gathered for a trade call with Trump administration officials on Thursday as they had a month earlier, when Trump's tariff threats over fentanyl threatened to blow up their North American supply chains. This time they had a different host -- and a less satisfactory takeaway.
Instead of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick addressed them. While Wiles had reassured carmakers the administration would consider carve-outs for cars that comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement -- the 2020 update to North American Free Trade Agreement -- Lutnick made no such overture, people with knowledge of the call said. Participants left unsure what Trump would do.
The White House denied that its message to industry and trading partners has changed, saying there was "no contradiction or change in message" between the two calls with the auto industry, according to an administration official.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said late Monday his government would implement retaliatory tariffs on nearly $100 billion of imported U.S. goods.
He said his government swiftly addressed the Trump administration's concerns about border security and fentanyl trafficking, or the reason Trump said hefty tariffs targeting America's neighbors were necessary. "Canada will not let this unjustified decision go unanswered," Trudeau said, adding that fentanyl seizures from Canada at the U.S. border plunged in January from the previous month.
In addition to steps to disrupt migration and the fentanyl trade, Mexico has increased arrests of people allegedly tied to criminal groups. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country was ready to respond to whatever Trump decides.
"There will be coordination, but not subordination," she said.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg TV on Friday that Mexico made a "very interesting proposal" to match the U.S. on tariffs for imports from China. Lutnick indicated that Mexico and Canada could face lower tariffs than the 25% Trump proposed.
"He knows they have done a good job on the border, they haven't done enough on fentanyl, let's see how the president weighs that today," Lutnick said Monday morning on CNN.
The higher tariffs for China had appeared more settled throughout Monday. Engagement between the U.S. and Chinese governments has been scant.
Raising duties on goods from China by an additional 10% would generate about $86 billion overall -- more than the yearly tariff revenue collected by all of Trump's first-term tariffs, according to an estimate by analytics company Trade Partnership Worldwide. That sum would outpace the $77 billion the U.S. collected in tariff revenue from all sources in 2024, Trade Partnership Worldwide said.
China imposed retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. last month and opened probes into the conduct of U.S. companies.
Beijing has deflected U.S. charges that it was to blame for the U.S.'s fentanyl crisis." [1]
1. Tariffs Go Into Effect on Canada, Mexico --- President says there was 'no room left' for talks, and U.S. stocks drop sharply. Bade, Gavin; Santiago Perez in Mexico City; Monga, Vipal. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 04 Mar 2025: A1.
