US President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to impose tariffs on the European Union and announced that his administration is considering a 10% punitive tariff on Chinese imports, citing the flow of fentanyl from China to the US via Mexico and Canada. Fentanyl is a synthetic drug that causes thousands of deadly overdoses in the US every year.
Trump made his latest tariff threats to reporters at the White House a day after his inauguration, without immediately imposing the tariffs as he had promised during his campaign.
Financial markets and trade companies breathed a temporary sigh of relief on Tuesday, but Trump’s latest statements underscored his long-held desire for broader tariffs and a new deadline of February 1 for the imposition of 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, as well as tariffs on China and the EU.
Trump said the EU and other countries also have concerning trade surpluses with the United States.
“The European Union is very, very bad to us” he said, repeating a statement from Monday. “So we will tariff them. That’s the only way. to achieve fairness.”
Trump had earlier urged the EU to import more oil and gas from the US, saying “otherwise, there will be tariffs without end!!” on his online platform, Truth Social. The US and the EU had a major trade dispute in Trump’s first term, with Trump imposing special tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in 2018, and the EU retaliating with tariffs on US products like bourbon whiskey, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and jeans.
Trump said on Monday that he is considering tariffs on Canada and Mexico if they do not take action against illegal immigration and fentanyl from China, over their US borders.
The White House trade advisor, Peter Navarro, told CNBC on Tuesday that Trump is using his tariff threat against Canada and Mexico to pressure the two countries to prevent illegal immigrants and fentanyl from entering the US.
“The reason he is considering 25, 25, and 10 (percent), or whatever it may be, on Canada, Mexico, and China is that 300 Americans die every day from fentanyl overdoses” Navarro said.