WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday signed an order to impose stiff tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China, drawing swift retaliation and an undeniable sense of betrayal from the country’s North American neighbors as a trade war erupted among the longtime allies.
The tariffs, if sustained, could cause inflation to significantly worsen, threatening the trust that many voters placed in Trump to lower the prices of groceries, gasoline, housing, autos and other goods as he promised. They also risked throwing the global economy and Trump’s political mandate into turmoil just two weeks into his second term.
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Trump’s order includes a mechanism [to raise American tariffs even higher in response to reciprocal tariffs from the three countries]...raising the specter of an even more severe economic disruption.
...Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a somber tone as he announced that his country would put matching 25% tariffs on up to $155 billion in U.S. imports, including alcohol and fruit.
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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote in a post on X [that] she had instructed her economy secretary to implement a response that includes retaliatory tariffs and other measures in defense of Mexico’s interests.
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China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country’s government “firmly deplores and opposes this move and will take necessary countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests.”
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The Ministry of Commerce in China said it would file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization for the “wrongful practices of the U.S.”...
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The tariffs will go into effect on Tuesday, setting up a showdown in North America that could potentially sabotage economic growth. A new analysis by the Budget Lab at Yale laid out the possible damage to the U.S. economy, saying the average household would lose the equivalent of $1,170 in income from the taxes. Economic growth would slow and inflation would worsen, and the situation could be even worse with retaliation from other countries.
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The order signed by Trump contained no mechanism for granting exceptions...
...did not provide specific benchmarks that could be met to lift the new tariffs, saying only that the best measure would be fewer Americans dying from fentanyl addiction.
Those are key to understanding how reckless and arbitrary this is: 1) no exceptions 2) vague criteria for an off ramp. When Trump decides the fentanyl crisis is over.
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The president is preparing more import taxes in a sign that tariffs will be an ongoing part of his second term.
The hallmarks of permanency are there: no exceptions, no clear off ramp.
