US President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that the planned tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico are likely to take effect next month, during a joint press conference with French President Macron at the White House.
It is now expected that Canada and Mexico will intensify their efforts this week to prevent the threatened 25 percent tariffs on their exports to the US. The goal of the talks is to persuade the government of President Donald Trump that concrete measures have been taken to increase border security and curb the fentanyl trade before the March 4 deadline.
Originally, the tariffs were postponed until March 4 to give the neighboring countries more time to respond to Trump’s concerns about border security.
Since the initial announcement of 25 percent tariffs and the imposition of 10 percent tariffs on all Chinese imports, Trump has imposed further tariffs that could complicate the negotiations with Canada and Mexico over the shared borders.
These include a significant increase in tariffs on steel and aluminum to a flat 25 percent and the revocation of long-standing exemptions for Canada and Mexico, the largest sources of US imports of these metals. The drastic increases, which also affect hundreds of subsequent steel products, are set to take effect a week after the border tariffs on March 12.
The announcement of new tariffs could be the trigger for a soon-to-be-held renegotiation of the trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada, which, according to Reuters, is expected to be completed by 2026.
Mexico has begun deploying up to 10,000 soldiers of the National Guard to its northern border, part of an agreement that, according to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, also urges the US to take action to stop the influx of firearms into Mexico.
Canada has appointed a new fentanyl coordinator at the beginning of the month, who will coordinate the fight against the smuggling of the deadly opioid and has also appointed high-ranking intelligence official Kevin Brosseau to this post. Ottawa has also reclassified drug cartels as terrorist organizations and has deployed drones, helicopters and other surveillance technologies along the vast US-Canada border.