Canada, Mexico impose retaliatory tariffs on US; China vows countermeasures

Canada, Mexico, and China vowed retaliation in response to President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on the three nations, pushing the United States into a trade war with two neighboring countries and a superpower.

News ID: 5914

Date: 02 February 2025 - 15:08

TABNAK, Feb 02: On Saturday, Trump announced broad tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico, the United States’ three largest trade partners.

The Trump administration claims the tariffs are aimed at curbing the flow of drugs and undocumented immigrants into the US, but they potentially risk substantial price increases for American consumers across an array of common goods from avocados to sneakers to cars.

The new policy represents a reversal of virtually duty-free trade among the three North American nations that’s existed for several years — and an expansion of a trade war between China and the United States that has escalated over the past two administrations.

As Trump has repeatedly promised over the past several months, the tariffs will amount to a significant 25% duty on all imports from Mexico and most goods from Canada, and a 10% tariff on Chinese goods imported into the United States.

The tariffs will have no exemptions, and the executive action Trump signed Saturday will close the so-called de minimis loophole that had allowed shipments of $800 or less to come into the United States tax-free.

Mexico and Canada, the top two US trading partners, immediately vowed retaliatory tariffs, while China said it would challenge Trump’s move at the World Trade Organization and take other “countermeasures.”

Hours after Trump’s action, Trudeau announced retaliatory 25% tariffs on US goods, that will be “far-reaching and include everyday items,” making good on his promise that Canada would retaliate forcefully and swiftly if the United States imposed levies.

“Tonight, I am announcing Canada will be responding to the US trade action with 25% trade tariffs against $155 billion worth of American goods,” the Canadian leader said in a news conference Saturday night.

Trump’s action will not only harm Canadians but will have “real consequences” for the American people, said Trudeau.

President Claudia Sheinbaum also announced on Saturday Mexico will retaliate against tariffs imposed by Trump with tariffs and other measures of its own.

According to Sheinbaum, Mexico’s Ministry of Economy “will implement Plan B that we have been working on, which includes tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico’s interests.”

The Mexican president also rejected the White House’s allegation that drug cartels have an alliance with her government, calling it “slander” after Trump’s administration used it to justify the tariffs.

“If the United States government and its agencies wanted to address the serious consumption of fentanyl in their country, they can combat the sale of narcotics on the streets of their main cities,” she said.

Meanwhile, China announced on Sunday it “firmly opposes” the tariffs imposed on Beijing, and it will take “corresponding countermeasures to resolutely safeguard [China’s] rights and interests.”

China’s Ministry of Commerce said China would file a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization, arguing that “the unilateral imposition of tariffs by the United States seriously violates WTO rules.”

“China hopes that the United States will objectively and rationally view and deal with its own issues like fentanyl, rather than threatening other countries with tariffs at every turn,” the Ministry said.

Trump also noted in his executive orders that if the targeted countries retaliate against the tariffs imposed, he “may increase or expand in scope the duties imposed under this Executive Order to ensure the efficacy of this action.”

National Foreign Trade Council President Jake Colvin said Trump’s move threatened to raise the costs of “everything from avocados to automobiles” and urged the US, Canada, and Mexico to find a quick solution to avoid escalation.

New research from the Peterson Institute for International Economics suggests Trump’s aggressive tariff campaign will force American consumers to pay more for practically everything — from foreign-made sneakers and toys to food.