President Donald Trump on Thursday said his proposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada will go into effect March 4 and that China will be charged an additional 10% tariff on the same date.
The sweeping 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada had been paused on Feb. 3 for one month. But the Trump administration has recently sown confusion about whether they would go back into effect when the delays expired.
In a Truth Social post Thursday morning, Trump clarified that they would.
He said, without providing evidence, that illicit drugs “are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,” despite pledges from both U.S. neighbors to boost their efforts to police their borders.
“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled,” Trump wrote.
He also announced that China, which already faces 10% U.S. tariffs on its products, “will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date.”
Trump added in his post, “The April Second Reciprocal Tariff date will remain in full force and effect.”
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures turned slightly negative following Trump’s post, but rose when markets opened.
In addition to the tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada, Trump has ordered global 25% tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, which are set to take effect March 12.
On Feb. 13, Trump signed a presidential memorandum on his plan to impose reciprocal tariffs on foreign nations that have duties on U.S. imports. In addition to the tit-for-tat tariffs, Trump’s plan would treat certain other policies, such as the use of value-added taxes, as unfair trade practices that warrant tariffs in response.