President Donald Trump has reaffirmed his plan to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports starting this Saturday.
“That’s coming on the 1st, Saturday,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, signaling his intent to follow through on the measure despite speculation that it was a bargaining tactic.
The president made it clear that these tariffs are a response to what he sees as unfair trade practices and insufficient cooperation on border enforcement from America’s northern and southern neighbors.
While Trump acknowledged that a final decision on whether to exempt petroleum imports was still pending, he made it clear that pricing and fairness would be key factors.
“We’re going to make that determination probably tonight, on oil. Because they send us oil. We’ll see. It depends what the price is. If the oil is properly priced, if they treat us properly, which they don’t,” Trump stated.
The announcement follows Trump’s earlier pledge in November to impose the tariffs unless Mexico cracked down on illegal crossings at the U.S. border and Canada took stronger measures to stop the flow of illicit drugs like fentanyl.
Since then, both countries have moved to tighten security, with Canada rolling out a $1.3 billion border security initiative. However, Trump appears unconvinced that their efforts have gone far enough.
“Look, Canada and Mexico, they have never been good to us on trade. They have treated us very unfairly on trade. And we will be able to make that up very quickly, because we don’t need the products that they have,” Trump asserted.
The president pointed to America’s own resources as evidence that the country no longer has to rely on foreign imports. “We have all the oil you need. We have all the trees you need, meaning the lumber. We have more than almost anybody in those two categories,” he said.
Trump also indicated his administration would move to lift environmental restrictions on U.S. lumber production, saying, “We have to free them up environmentally, which I can do very quickly.”
This wouldn’t be the first time Trump has used tariffs as a tool to reshape trade relationships.
During his first term, he renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which added stricter labor provisions to prevent American jobs from being undercut.
He also leveraged tariffs against China in an effort to curb unfair trade practices and protect U.S. manufacturing.
Now, Trump is once again taking a hardline approach. He argues that Mexico has become a transit hub for Chinese goods, allowing China to bypass direct trade penalties.
“For us to be subsidizing Canada to the tune of $175 billion a year and subsidizing Mexico to the tune of $250 billion, $300 billion a year — and Mexico is a method of China sending in its product,” he said.
The president also hinted at potential additional tariffs on China, tying them to Beijing’s role in fentanyl production. “With China I’m also thinking about something, because they’re sending fentanyl into our country and because of that, they’re causing us hundreds of thousands of deaths,” he stated.
As the tariff deadline approaches, all eyes will be on whether Canada and Mexico take any last-minute steps to meet Trump’s demands—or whether the tariffs will take full effect as planned.