Trump Imposes Higher Tariffs On Canada, Mexico, And China

President Donald Trump has signed an order imposing steep tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada, and China, fulfilling a campaign promise but raising concerns about increased prices for American consumers, Josh Boak reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Trump has argued that the government should generate more revenue from tariffs, as it did before the income tax became part of the Constitution in 1913. I Photo: Gage Skidmore Flickr

Trump declared an economic emergency to impose tariffs of 10% on all imports from China and 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada—America’s largest trading partners—except for Canadian oil, which will face a 10% tariff.

The order also includes a mechanism to escalate the rates if these countries retaliate against the U.S. “You see the power of the tariff,” Trump told reporters.

“Nobody can compete with us because we have by far the biggest piggy bank.”

Trump has argued that the government should generate more revenue from tariffs, as it did before the income tax became part of the Constitution in 1913. He falsely claimed that the U.S. was at its wealthiest in the 1890s under President William McKinley.

“We were the richest country in the world,” Trump said Friday. “We were a tariff country.” The Dallas Morning News also carried the report.

Trump’s decision prompted a swift response from financial markets, with the S&P 500 stock index slumping after his announcement.

Democrats are sponsoring legislation that would strip the president of the power to impose tariffs without congressional approval, but the measure is unlikely to pass in a Republican-controlled House and Senate.

“If this weekend’s tariffs go into effect, they’ll do catastrophic damage to our relationships with our allies and raise costs for working families by hundreds of dollars a year,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.).

“Congress needs to stop this from happening again.”s