Trump whacks tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China

Washington: President Donald Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China – the US’s three largest trading partners – in a move economists warned could spark a trade war and increase prices for American consumers.

The White House said the tariffs of 25 per cent on all goods imported from Mexico would stay in place until the country co-operated with the US in the fight against drugs, particularly fentanyl, trafficked across the border by drug cartels.

A 25 per cent tariff would apply on all Canadian imports except energy, where the rate would be 10 per cent, “until Canada co-operates with the US 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,” the White House said in a statement.

In a tweet, the White House claimed the Mexico tariffs would be “paid by Mexican producers”. They are paid by US importers.

The tariffs were announced on Saturday evening (Washington time), but match what Trump vowed to do in November after winning the election. The president has a long-standing affinity for using tariffs as an economic tool, deploying them extensively in his first term. He has also described tariff as “the most beautiful word in the dictionary”.

On Friday, Trump flagged the Mexico, Canada and China tariffs would be the start of a broader push, vowing to slap tariffs on oil, gas, steel, copper and microchips.

“Tariffs don’t cause inflation, they cause success. They cause big success,” he said. “There could be some temporary short-term disruption and people will understand that.”

Retaliatory tariffs from the three countries were expected. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was expected to speak later on Saturday night (Sunday AEDT).