President Trump threatens Canada with 35% tariffs
President Trump threatened Canada with 35% tariffs while saying he’s considering raising blanket tariffs on most trade partners.
President Donald Trump will slap a 30% tariff on all imports from Mexico and the European Union beginning Aug. 1, he announced on his Truth Social account on July 12.
In letters to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, Trump wrote that the two leaders had not done enough to prevent fentanyl from entering the U.S. and to end trade deficits with the U.S., respectively.
“Mexico has been helping me secure the border. BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough,” he wrote in the letter to Sheinbaum.
“Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from Reciprocal,” he wrote in a separate letter to Von der Leyen.
In recent days, Trump has slapped tariffs of at least 20% set to begin Aug. 1 on more than a dozen countries. On July 9, he sent letters announcing the imminent tariffs to Libya, Iraq, the Philippines, and four other countries. Another batch of letters to 14 countries, including South Africa, Malaysia, and Laos went out two days earlier.
Canada will get hit with a 35% tariff, Trump said on July 10. Trump said he would impose 50% tariffs on Brazil in retaliation for the ongoing prosecution of his right-wing ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro, on charges of plotting to undermine the country’s election.
It comes after Trump said he would impose reciprocal tariffs on countries around the world pending a deal, but later pushed back the date they would come into effect by 90 days. Global tariffs of 10% are still in place.