Tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China are expected to start this week.
President Donald Trump confirmed that his 25% duty on goods from Canada and Mexico and additional 10% duty on Chinese imports will begin on March 4. The tariffs will apply to all imports except Canadian energy resources, which will face a 10% tariff. Goods already in transit to the U.S. before February 1, 2025, when these measures were first introduced in executive orders, are exempt.
These tariffs are part of Trump's strategy to combat the flow of illegal drugs, most notably fentanyl, into the United States. Trump believes China is manufacturing the fentanyl and that it's coming into the U.S. through Canada and Mexico.
Trump at one point paused tariffs in February. Finance and economics editor at Breitbart News John Carney said March 4 is likely a go for these tariffs and it doesn't seem as likely this time around that Trump will pause them again.
"There's always a chance for people to negotiate with Donald Trump because he's always open to having talks and he really believes in diplomacy and negotiation," Carney said. "But yes, right now, on March 4th, we are enforcing these tariffs."
An interesting development in this tariff talk is Mexico is interested in putting their own tariffs on China too. According to Carney, if Canada were to also agree to doing that, it would create a North American trading block against China.
"I think it would go a long way to having Canada and Mexico get out from under those 25 percent tariffs, so rather than having a trade war, what we're seeing is the building of a trade alliance with Canada and Mexico," said Carney.
Carney believes the resulting impact on the Chinese would be significant.
"It has a pretty big economic impact and I think it also has a very big diplomatic impact because China will see that this is not just Donald Trump, this is not the U.S. alone, this is a gathering force of powers around the world," Carney explained.
If the U.S. brings on Canada and Mexico with tariffs against China, there's a possibility that European countries will join too.
"They have also been suffering under Chinese predatory mercantilism," Carney said of some European countries. "They may also want to join a free trade zone with free nations against China."
Trump's tariffs are expected to remain in place indefinitely. The impacted countries have already signaled that there will be retaliatory tariffs. Carney said retaliation against the U.S. would result in "economic suicide."