Donald Trump was pulled back from the trade war between Canada and Mexico on Thursday, temporarily delaying tariffs on many goods from both countries.
The US President announced that the wide range of product duties will be shelved until April two days after imposing cleaning fees on all imports from his country’s closest trading partner.
“There’s no delay at all,” he told reporters in the oval office and signed an order that delayed the tariffs.
Trump has already mitigated attacks on Canada and Mexico, giving the carmaker a month’s reprieve after warning of widespread disruption. The top retail CEOs have also supported customers with significant price increases at grocery stores within days.
After a call with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, Trump declared, “Mexico doesn’t have to pay tariffs on anything.”
Taxes are not paid by the country, but are paid by the importer (in this case, a US company) who purchases the product from the company in the target country.
Hours later, Trump signed an amendment extending the same relief to Canada until April 2nd. Earlier in the day he pointed to Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau, claiming he was in office “using tariff issues.”
Trump said the recent stock market turbulence and reversal “has nothing to do with” as investors are squeezing his economic plans. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 1.8% on Thursday. “I’m not looking at the market,” he insisted.
In his president’s joint speech to Congress on Tuesday evening, he acknowledged that tariffs would cause confusion. “There’s a bit of a hindrance, but that’s fine,” he said.
Trump initially had promised to target Canada and Mexico and target tariffs on his first day in office. However, upon his return, he said he was considering imposing tariffs at the beginning of February. Last month he provided Canada and Mexico with a one-month delay in the 11th hour.
Only on Tuesday he only pulled the trigger, imposing 25% duties on all goods from Mexico and most goods from Canada, and 10% duties on Canadian energy products. He also doubled the tariffs on China’s exports from 10% to 20%.
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Trump and his allies argue that higher tariffs on US imports from around the world will help “make America great again” by allowing them to gain political and economic concessions from allies and rivals at the global stage.
However, businesses both within the US and around the world have warned that if the Trump administration pushes this strategy it will cause serious damage to businesses and consumers.
The president has repeatedly vowed to reduce the US trade deficit – the gap between what it exports to the world and imports from it – reached a record of $131.4 billion in January.
Trump has denounced his predecessor, Joe Biden, on social media for the trade deficit. “I’ll change that!!!”
