Trump: 'First attack on tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China'
The president-elect announced tariffs of 25% on all imports from Canada and Mexico and an additional 10% on goods arriving from China: a political pressure tool to stop immigrants and drug trafficking
from New York Marco Valsania and Luca Veronese
3' min read
3' min read
Import duties, as promised, and from 'day one' in the White House: Donald Trump, rattles the markets and the global economic balance, with his first detailed threat on international trade since he was elected.
The Republican leader has announced 25% tariffs on all imports from Mexico and Canada, two major allies and partners. And a further measure to hit China, the main strategic rival: a further 10% increase to be added to any 'additional tariffs' and certainly to the 15% average duties already in place since the years of his first administration. In a pair of diktats on social media, the president-elect said that presidential decrees, particularly on Mexico and Canada, will be among the very first acts of his day one in the White House on 20 January. Trump's tariffs are like sanctions, with precise political purposes, to punish countries - he charged - that do not curb the 'invasion of illegal immigrants' and do not do enough to stop fentanyl trafficking to the US.
The message is strong: the president-elect will defend America First by hitting trade and the offensive is only just beginning. To Mexico and Canada Trump said they 'have the right and the power to easily solve the problem' related to fentanyl and immigration. In Beijing, he reiterated that talks on fentanyl - a narcotic that caused 75,000 deaths in the US last year - have so far been 'fruitless' and that pledges to crack down hard, even with capital punishment, on drug traffickers have not been met.
Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent also openly emphasised how tariffs can be 'a useful tool to achieve foreign policy objectives'. The threat to Mexico is a deja vu: Trump even in his first term in office, announced import tariffs on the southern border, only to withdraw the measures when the Mexican government decided on an increased use of armed forces against illegal immigrants.
The reactions, nervous and uncertain, were not slow, in the face of a move that risks damaging the global and now integrated supply chains. From Europe, although not involved in this first Trumpian squeeze, German Economics Minister Robert Habeck warned that 'we must be prepared' for similar actions against the EU and Germany and said that 'the first thing is to seek dialogue'. "This is not good news," added the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, on the sidelines of the G7 in Fiuggi. "We know what the countermeasures are," he explained, "but such steps will not help the world economy and will create many difficulties.
