Officials in Canada, Mexico and China have warned that President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to impose steep tariffs on the United States’ three biggest trading partners could disrupt the economies of all four countries.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said, “One tariff will follow another until it endangers our general business.”
President Trump vowed Monday night to introduce 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10% on goods from China. He said the mission was to crack down on drugs and illegal immigration.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he spoke with President Trump hours after the announcement and planned to meet with Canadian provincial leaders on Wednesday to discuss the response.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington DC told the BBC: “No one wins in a trade war or a tariff war.”
The international backlash comes a day after President Trump announced his plans for his first day in office on January 20 in a post on the social media website Truth Social.
Prime Minister Trudeau said his country stands ready to work with the United States in a “constructive way.”
“We know this relationship requires some work, and we intend to do that,” Trudeau told reporters.
Prime Minister Trudeau said that during his phone call with President Trump, they discussed trade and border security, and the prime minister noted that the number of migrants crossing the Canadian border is much lower than at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump’s team declined to confirm the call.
But Trump’s press secretary, Stephen Chan, said world leaders are seeking to “build a stronger relationship” with Trump because he “represents peace and stability in the world.” He added that there is.
Mexican President Sheinbaum told reporters Tuesday that neither threats nor tariffs can solve America’s “immigration phenomenon” or drug consumption.
Sheinbaum read a letter he said he planned to send to Trump warning that Mexico would retaliate by imposing its own taxes on U.S. imports, which would “put ordinary businesses at risk.” .
He said Mexico was taking steps to address illegal immigration into the United States and that “caravans of migrants are no longer reaching the border.”
The drug problem “is a public health and consumption problem in your society,” she added.
Mr. Sheinbaum, who took over last month, noted that U.S. automakers produce some parts in Mexico and Canada.
“Who hurts when tariffs go up? General Motors,” she said.
Meanwhile, Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, told the BBC that “China-US economic and trade cooperation is essentially mutually beneficial.”
He denied that China allows chemicals used to make illegal drugs, including fentanyl, to be smuggled into the United States.
“China took action in response to a request from the United States to verify clues regarding a specific incident,” Liu said.
“All of this proves that the idea that China is intentionally allowing fentanyl precursors to flow into the United States is completely contrary to facts and reality.”
President Joe Biden has left in place the tariffs on China that President Trump introduced during his first term, and added several more of his own.
Currently, most of the goods that the two countries sell to each other are subject to tariffs: 66.4% of the United States’ imports from China and 58.3% of China’s imports from the United States.
“No one wants the idea of going to war with the United States,” Trudeau told MPs in a speech in the House of Commons in Ottawa.
He urged people not to “panic” and to cooperate.
“That’s the job we take seriously and methodically, but without panic,” he said.
Canadian provincial leaders have indicated they will impose their own tariffs on the United States.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday that “what we are selling to America is what they really need.” “We sell them oil, we sell them electricity, we sell them critical minerals and metals.”
According to US data, America’s northern neighbor accounted for around $437 billion (£347 billion) of US imports in 2022, making it the country’s biggest export market that year.
Canada sends approximately 75% of its total exports to the United States.
Doug Ford, premier of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, said Monday that the proposed tariffs would be “devastating to workers and jobs in both Canada and the United States.”
“Comparing us to Mexico is the most insulting thing I’ve ever heard,” Ford said.
The premiers of Quebec, Saskatchewan and British Columbia echoed Ford’s comments, while Alberta Premier Daniel Smith’s post on his X account said Trump raised “legitimate concerns about illegal activity at the border.” I admitted it.
The value of the Canadian dollar “loony” has plummeted since President Trump announced in January that he would impose tariffs on imports from Canada.
The Canadian dollar fell below $71, its lowest level since May 2020, when President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canadian goods during his first term as U.S. president. The Mexican peso fell to around 4.8 cents, the lowest this year.
