Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reportedly responded quickly to US President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Mexican, Canadian and Chinese goods as world currencies plummeted.
The incoming president posted on his Truth Social platform Monday night that he would impose a 25 percent tariff on Mexican and Canadian goods as long as the countries continue to allow migrants to cross the border into the United States.
He also said he would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods over the Chinese government’s refusal to fulfill a promise to use the death penalty against drug traffickers.
These actions, Trump said, would take place on the first day of his administration, noting that the tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports would apply to ‘ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders.’
‘This tariff will remain in place until drugs, particularly fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country!’
Trump also suggested that Mexico and Canada had “the absolute right and power to easily resolve this long-simmering problem,” indicating that he wanted the neighbors to do more to patrol their borders so immigrants couldn’t sneak into the United States. in the middle of another caravan of immigrants. .
Just two hours after Trump posted the threats, Trudeau called Trump at his Mar-a-Lago property and the two had a constructive conversation focused on trade and border security, an unnamed Canadian official with knowledge of the matter said. of the call. he told the New York Times.
The Canadian government then issued a statement focusing on the deep ties between the American and Canadian economies.
Justin Trudeau called President-elect Donald Trump just two hours after he threatened to impose tariffs on Canada on Monday night.
Former President Donald Trump is photographed standing in front of the border wall in August during his re-election bid. The now president-elect has promised to impose a 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada, suggesting that they should be the ones to limit border crossings.
“Canada is essential to America’s domestic energy supply and last year 60 percent of America’s crude oil imports originated in Canada,” reads the statement issued by Finance Minister Trudeau. Chrystia Freeland, and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
“Of course, we will continue to discuss these issues with the incoming administration.”
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, a Canadian industry group, also said he believed Trump’s posts were just a way to open negotiations that would eventually solidify Canada and the United States as allies in a fight against China. .
“Half of the cars made in China are made by American companies and half of the parts used in all cars made in Canada come from American suppliers, and more than half of the raw materials come from American sources,” Volpe pointed out.
‘We are beyond partners. We are almost as inseparable as a family.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford added in a social media post that “a 25 per cent tariff would be devastating for workers and jobs in both Canada and the United States.”
“The federal government needs to take the situation at our border seriously,” he said. ‘We need a Team Canada approach and response, and we need it now.
“Prime Minister Trudeau should call an urgent meeting with all prime ministers,” he suggested.
Canadian officials have touted the strong economic relationship between the United States and Canada.
Meanwhile, Mexican officials have yet to comment on Trump’s threat.
But they have previously signaled they were prepared to respond with retaliatory tariffs of their own.
“If they impose 25 percent tariffs on me, I have to react with tariffs,” said Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s economy minister. told a radio interviewer earlier this month.
Mexico, China and Canada account for more than a third of the goods and services imported and exported by the United States, and support tens of millions of American jobs.
The three countries together also purchased more than $1 trillion in U.S. exports and provided nearly $1.5 trillion in goods and services to the United States in 2023.
Issuing a 25 percent tariff to Canada and Mexico would also violate the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that Trump himself signed in 2020, prompting some to question whether Trump’s posts were just a negotiating tactic.
As a result, the Chinese embassy in Washington DC warned that “no one will win a trade war” and criticized Trump’s claims that the deadly drug fentanyl was still leaking into the United States from China.
“The Chinese side has notified the US side about the progress made in US-related anti-narcotics law enforcement operations,” said Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in DC. The Guardian reports.
‘All of this shows that the idea that China knowingly allows fentanyl precursors to flow into the United States runs completely counter to facts and reality.
“China believes that economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States is mutually beneficial.”
Trump suggested the tariffs would remain in place as long as Mexico and Canada continued to allow migrants to flow across the border into the United States.
But the announcement of the tariffs has already caused the Chinese yuan to fall against the US dollar to its weakest point in almost four months, falling 0.3 percent on the news to 7.2730 per dollar.
The Mexican and Canadian currencies also fell about one percent each, while the U.S. dollar gained against all but the yen in Asian trading.
“Risk sentiment is being crushed for now by Trump’s tariff risks: the dollar is being seen as a haven and currencies of affected nations, such as the Mexican peso, are being hit,” Mingze Wu, foreign exchange trader at StoneX Financial. he told Bloomberg.
‘This may be just a taste of what is to come.