U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that Americans may face economic “pain” because of new tariffs he is imposing on the country’s three biggest trading partners —Canada, China and Mexico — but contended that it would be “worth the price” to bolster U.S. interests.
Despite sharing a free-trade pact he negotiated with Canada and Mexico in his first term in office, Trump on Saturday imposed 25% tariffs on the two countries set to take effect Tuesday, and hit China with a new 10% levy in addition to already enacted tariffs.
Trump claimed the three countries were not doing enough to halt illegal immigration and the deadly opioid fentanyl from entering the United States.
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In Truth Social posts early Sunday, Trump acknowledged American consumers could face higher prices because of the tariffs. U.S. companies that pay the tariffs to the federal government to import goods from other countries then often pass on at least part, if not all, of their higher costs to consumers rather than absorb their extra expenses themselves.
But Trump aimed most of his comments at Canada, targeting one of the U.S.’s closest allies. The U.S. Census Bureau said the U.S. had a $55 billion trade deficit with Canada last year.
“Why? There is no reason,” Trump contended. “We don’t need anything they have. We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use.”
“Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country. Harsh but true! Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada — AND NO TARIFFS!” Trump said.
He said, “Canada, Mexico, China, and too many others to name, continue the decades long RIPOFF OF AMERICA, both with regard to TRADE, CRIME, AND POISONOUS DRUGS that are allowed to so freely flow into AMERICA. THOSE DAYS ARE OVER!”
With the new tariffs, Trump said, "Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!) But we will Make America Great Again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid."
Trump aides had previously shied from acknowledging that tariffs could raise U.S. consumer prices. Nationwide polls in the U.S. showed that consumer frustration over rising prices during the last four years were a major factor in his November election victory over Democrat Kamala Harris.
Trump has since acknowledged that it will not be easy to curb higher grocery prices. Trump put the new tariff on energy imports from Canada at 10%, apparently seeking to limit an increase in fuel and electricity prices.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that his country would hit back with 25% percent levies of its own on select American goods worth $106.6 billion, with a first round on Tuesday followed by a second one in three weeks.
Leaders of several Canadian provinces have already announced retaliatory actions as well, such as the immediate halt of U.S. liquor purchases, and more specifically, orange juice produced in the U.S. state of Florida, whiskey in Tennessee and peanut butter in Kentucky, three states Trump won in last November’s election and all represented by Republicans, like Trump, in the U.S. Senate.
Kirsten Hillman, the Canadian ambassador to the U.S., told ABC’s “This Week” show, “We’re really disappointed” and “perplexed” by Trump’s actions and said she hoped that Trump would back off before Tuesday. But she acknowledged that “it’s really in the president’s hands” whether that happens.
She said that “less than 1% of illegal immigrants” entering the U.S. travel across its northern border with Canada. She said Canada has invested “in a lot of equipment” to curb unauthorized border crossings and conducted joint exercises with the U.S. to catch migrants.
“It’s hard to know what more we could do,” she said. “We’re not at all interested in escalating” a trade war with the U.S., where she said 99% of the trade is currently tariff-free. “We’re eager to build on that.”
Meanwhile, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she had directed her economy minister to "implement Plan B," which includes yet-unspecified "tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico's interests," without specifying what U.S. goods her government will target.
U.S. exports to Mexico totaled more than $322 billion in 2023, Census Bureau data showed, while the U.S. imported more than $475 billion worth of Mexican products.
Sheinbaum assailed Trump’s contention that her government had joined forces with drug cartels, a claim he made in announcing the tariff increases.
“We categorically reject the White House’s slanderous claim that the Mexico government has alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any attempt to intervene in our territory,” Sheinbaum wrote on X. “If there is anywhere that such an alliance in fact exists, it is in the United States gun factories that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups.”
China denounced the new tariffs on its exports, with Beijing saying it would challenge them at the World Trade Organization and take unspecified “countermeasures.” The U.S. had a $279 billion trade deficit with China in 2023, the largest figure for any of its trading partners.
That response stopped short of the immediate escalation that had marked China’s trade showdown with Trump during his first term as president.
China’s commerce ministry said in a statement that Trump’s move “seriously violates” international trade rules, urging the U.S. to “engage in frank dialogue and strengthen cooperation.”
Trump has also often threatened new tariffs against the European Union. A spokesperson for the bloc said Sunday that it would "respond firmly to any trading partner that unfairly or arbitrarily imposes tariffs."
