President Trump said he would speak Monday morning with the leaders of Canada and Mexico after imposing a fresh round of tariffs on imports from those countries and made clear it would take significant action to lift the tariffs.
“They have to balance out their trade, number one. They’ve got to stop people from pouring into our country, and we’ve stopped it. They haven’t stopped it. We’ve stopped it,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews. “They have to stop people pouring in, and we have to stop fentanyl. And that includes China.”
The president said he will speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as Mexico leadership, not specifying who, on Monday morning.
“I don’t expect anything very dramatic. We put tariffs on. They owe us a lot of money, and I’m sure they’re going to pay,” he said.
Trump on Saturday signed off on 25 percent tariffs on Canada, 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and 10 percent tariffs on China, which appear likely to set off a significant trade war. The move led to swift responses from all three nations, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday night saying that Canada would impose 25 percent tariffs on more than $100 billion in U.S. goods.
Asked if he was considering responding to Canada’s retaliatory tariffs, Trump suggested it was possible.
“It’s been a one-way street. We subsidize Canada to the tune of about $200 billion a year. And for what? What do we get out of it? We don’t get anything out of it,” Trump said. “Something is going to happen there. If they want to play the game, I don’t mind, we can play the game all they want. Mexico, we’ve had very good talks with them.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a post on X in Spanish that her team was working on a response that included measures to defend her country’s interests, though specific steps were not immediately clear. And, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it would file a legal case against the United States at the World Trade Organization.
Trump also suggested he could impose tariffs on the European Union (EU), and potentially the United Kingdom, after he has threatened to do so if they don’t purchase large quantities of American oil and gas to make up for its growing deficit with the U.S.
“The UK is way out of line, and we’ll see. The UK, but European Union is really out of line. UK is out of line but I’m sure that one, I think that one can be worked out. But the European Union, it’s an atrocity what they’ve done,” he said on Sunday night.
The EU purchases the lion’s share of American oil and gas and no additional volumes are available unless the U.S. increases output or volumes are re-routed through Asia, Reuters reported, citing U.S. data.
Experts have repeatedly warned that tariffs could lead to higher costs that companies will pass onto consumers.
The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank, estimated Trump’s tariffs announced Saturday would result in what amounts to an average tax increase of $830 per household in the U.S.
“We may have short term a little pain, and people understand that. But long term, the United States has been ripped off by virtually every country in the world,” the president told reporters, echoing comments from earlier in the day. “We have deficits with almost every country, not every country, but almost, and we’re going to change it. It’s been unfair.”
