White House says March tariffs remain the plan as Trump's comments draw confusion
United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday gave a series of apparently contradictory answers about his plans to enact tariffs on Canada and Mexico, as well as the European Union.
Trump was asked during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday whether he planned to move forward on imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico on March 4. Trump announced the levies earlier this month, but then subsequently agreed to a month-long delay after leaders from both countries agreed to stricter border control measures. But that delay is set to expire next week.
“I’m not stopping the tariffs,” Trump said, before describing how he believed the U.S. had been victim to years of mistreatment by his neighbours.
But Trump later said that the Mexico and Canada tariffs would be implemented on April 2. It wasn’t clear if the president meant that he was giving the countries additional time, or had conflated the Canada and Mexico tariffs with a separate program, under development by the Commerce Department and U.S. Trade Representative, that would impose so-called reciprocal tariffs on nations across the world.
Trump was also asked later about if he had decided on a specific tariff for the European Union. The president said those duties would be 25 per cent, but then launched into remarks about tariffs on automobiles and other topics.
A White House official said later Wednesday the deadline for Canada and Mexico tariffs remains March 4 and Trump had not yet decided whether to grant another extension. A report on possible reciprocal tariffs is due at the beginning of April, and those duties could hit Canada and Mexico, but are still separate from the import taxes Trump has threatened related to drug trafficking and illegal immigration, the
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