Earlier on March 3, President Donald Trump said that his country would be proceeding with 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports into the U.S.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will proceed with counter-tariffs on $155 billion worth of American goods as the United States seems poised to proceed with blanket tariffs on Canadian imports.
“Today, after a 30-day pause, the United States administration has decided to proceed with imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports and 10 per cent tariffs on Canadian energy,“ Trudeau said in a statement on March 3. ”Let me be unequivocally clear – there is no justification for these actions.”
Earlier on March 3, President Donald Trump said that his country would be proceeding with 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports into the United States, adding that there is “no room” for last-minute negotiations to prevent them.
In making the remarks at a press conference at the White House, Trump reiterated previous comments that there had been “vast amounts of fentanyl” coming into the United States from Canada and Mexico.
Trump had initially announced that the tariffs would be imposed on Feb. 4, but gave a last minute 30-day pause after phone calls with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, and getting commitments from them to do more to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal immigration into the United States through their borders. These commitments included Canada appointing a “fentanyl czar” and listing drug cartels as terrorist organizations, in addition to the previously committed CA$1.3 billion commitment to bolster border security, and Mexico agreeing to send 10,000 solders to the border.
Both countries went ahead with implementing these new promises. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNN on March 3 that he will advise the president that Canada and Mexico have “done a good job on the border,” but that “they haven’t done enough on fentanyl.”
rudeau said in his March 3 statement that Canada has worked hard to address the issue of fentanyl trafficking
“While less than 1 per cent of the fentanyl intercepted at the U.S. border comes from Canada, we have worked relentlessly to address this scourge that affects Canadians and Americans alike,” Trudeau said, while listing the actions Canada has taken to boost border security.
