US President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would impose a 25 percent tariff on all products coming from Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10 percent tariff on products coming from China, as soon as he takes office. Trump emphasized that this decision aims to increase border security and prevent drugs, especially fentanyl, from entering the country.
Trump claimed in a statement on his social media platform Truth Social that thousands of people were flowing through Mexico and Canada, bringing “crime and drugs” into the country at levels never seen before. He said a “caravan” of thousands of people from Mexico appear unstoppable in their quest to cross the now “open” US border.
According to Reuters,”On January 20th, as one of my first executive orders, I will sign all necessary paperwork to impose a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States from Mexico and Canada and our ridiculous open borders. This tariff will remain in effect until we stop the infestation of our country by drugs, especially fentanyl, and all illegal aliens,” Trump said,
According to Al-Jazeera,”Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long-simmering problem,” Trump said on Monday in a post on his social media platform Truth Social. “We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”
Trump also touched on the drug trade talks with China, arguing that China has not fulfilled its commitments regarding the production and trafficking of fentanyl. “Representatives of China told me that they would institute their maximum penalty, that of death, for any drug dealers caught doing this but, unfortunately, they never followed through, and drugs are pouring into our Country, mostly through Mexico, at levels never seen before,” Trump claimed, according to ABC News.
In order to prevent this situation, Trump stated that an additional 10 percent customs duty would be applied in addition to the existing tariffs on products coming from China to the US, and said that these measures were mandatory steps that must be taken to protect the US.
