Trump says Canada and Mexico tariffs go into effect March 4
In a social media post, President Trump announced that previously delayed tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico will soon be set in place.
Citing what he called “very high and unacceptable levels” of illegal drugs entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico, Trump said in the post the proposed tariffs on goods from those countries will go into effect Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
An additional 10% tariff will be added to an existing 10% tariff that has been in place for Chinese imports since Feb. 4, 2025.
“A large percentage of these drugs, much of them in the form of Fentanyl, are made in, and supplied by, China,” Trump said in the Truth Social post. “We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed tariffs scheduled to go into effect on March 4 will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled.”
Trump also said a previously announced plan to apply reciprocal tariffs on imports that equal any tariffs or other levies put on those products from the U.S. by other countries is still scheduled to go into effect Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
Tariff plans go through changes
U.S. tariffs have undergone a number of twists and turns since President Trump first signed an executive order placing a 25% tariff on nearly all goods coming into the U.S. from Canada, effective Feb. 4, as well as a 10% tariff on imports from China.
While the order also called for a 25% tariff on all Mexican goods, it is being delayed for one month to allow for negotiations. On Feb. 3, the Trump Administration also paused the implementation of a planned 25% tariff on imports from Canada for 30 days as negotiations on a border deal take place.
In total, the U.S. does about $1.6 trillion in annual business with the three countries, which account for more than a third of the goods and services that are imported to or bought from the United States and are this country's largest trading partners.
In other tariff-related developments, the Trump Administration briefly excluded shipments from China from the de minimis exception, which exempts imported shipments with an aggregate value of less than $800 from having to pay tariffs but then reverted to the same eligibility requirements for Chinese goods that had been in place since September 2024.
[READ MORE: Trump restores tariff loophole used by used by low-cost shopping apps]
Recent commentary by S&P Global Ratings noted that more than 24% of retail credits and 19% of consumer credits have negative outlooks if tariffs go into effect, indicating an above-average negative bias and little headroom for additional macroeconomic pressures.
S&P also noted that price increases will be harder to pass along to the consumer this time compared to 2018 because of the recent inflation cycle and already weak consumer environment.
