WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump emphasized on Monday that tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports will be imposed as scheduled, despite efforts by the two countries to strengthen border security and prevent the flow of fentanyl into the United States before the March 4 deadline.
During a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump stated that the tariffs will go forward on time and on schedule. He was asked if Canada and Mexico had done enough to avoid the 25% duty imposed by the United States.
There were hopes that the top two trading partners of the US could convince the administration to further delay the tariffs, which will affect over $918 billion worth of US imports from the two countries, including automobiles and energy products. This could potentially cause significant disruption to the integrated North American economy, with the automotive sector being hit the hardest.
Trump did not explicitly mention the March 4 deadline, but later on referenced his desire for reciprocal tariffs to match the duty rates and eliminate trade barriers with all countries, including France.
The issue of digital services taxes imposed by France, Canada, and other countries on major American tech companies such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon was not publicly discussed during the news conference.
However, on Friday, Trump directed his administration to revive tariff investigations on countries that have imposed digital service taxes on US firms.
Hopes for border security negotiations have dimmed, as Canada and Mexico have taken steps to strengthen their border security, which bought them a month’s reprieve from Trump’s original deadline of February 1. However, any further delay negotiated before the deadline will only keep the threat of tariffs in place until there is clear evidence that the measures taken by Canada and Mexico are effective. Dan Ujczo, a lawyer specializing in US-Canada trade matters, said that progress has been made on the security front, but it is overly optimistic to believe that the tariffs will be fully rescinded.
The White House, US Trade Representative’s office, and the Commerce Department did not respond to requests for comments on negotiations that are expected to take place this week before the March 4 deadline.
However, since Trump’s initial threat of imposing a 25% tariff and a 10% duty on all Chinese imports, he has taken further actions that could complicate negotiations on border security. This includes significantly increasing tariffs on steel and aluminum to a flat rate of 25%, revoking long-standing exemptions for Canada and Mexico, the two main sources of these imports for the US. These increased tariffs, which also extend to various downstream steel products, are set to take effect on March 12, just a week after the border tariffs are implemented.
Trump has also expressed his intention to impose a 25% tariff on imports of automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors, and to match the duty rates and trade barriers of other countries.
These threatened tariffs could potentially lead to an early renegotiation of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on trade, which is due to take place by 2026, according to Ujczo.
Trump signed the USMCA into law in 2020 after renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that was established in 1994. However, he has recently expressed dissatisfaction with the imports of automobiles from Mexico and Canada.
There have been reports of progress made in negotiations between Mexico and the US on Thursday, with Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard stating that they had a “productive dialogue” during a meeting with top US trade officials. He also mentioned that joint efforts on trade matters will begin on Monday.
As part of an agreement, Mexico has already started deploying up to 10,000 national guard troops to its northern border, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has also stated that the US must work towards stopping the flow of firearms into Mexico.
In Canada, a new fentanyl czar, Kevin Brosseau, has been appointed to oversee efforts to combat the smuggling of the deadly opioid. The Canadian government has also reclassified drug cartels as terrorist entities and has deployed drones, helicopters, and other surveillance technologies along the vast northern US border.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been in close contact with Trump regarding the border issues, including a phone call on Saturday where they discussed joint efforts to curb the fentanyl trade. Trudeau has warned of retaliatory tariffs on $107 billion worth of US imports, including American beer, wine, bourbon, and Florida orange juice. However, he stated last week that
