Trump’s long-threatened tariffs against Canada and Mexico are now in effect, kicking off trade war

WASHINGTON (news agencies) — President Donald Trump’s long-threatened tariffs against Canada and Mexico finally went into effect Tuesday, putting global markets on edge and setting up costly retaliations by the United States’ North American allies.

Starting just past midnight, imports from Canada and Mexico are now to be taxed at 25%, with Canadian energy products getting tariffed at 10%. In addition, the 10% tariff that Trump placed on Chinese imports in February is doubling to 20%.

In response, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country would slap tariffs on more than $100 billion of American goods over the course of 21 days. Mexico and China didn’t immediately detail any retaliatory measures.

The U.S. president’s moves raised fears of higher inflation and the prospect of a devastating trade war even as he promised the American public that taxes on imports are the easiest path to national prosperity. He has shown a willingness to buck the warnings of mainstream economists and put his own public approval on the line, believing that tariffs can fix what ails the country.

“It’s a very powerful weapon that politicians haven’t used because they were either dishonest, stupid or paid off in some other form,” Trump said Monday at the White House. “And now we’re using them.”

The Canada and Mexico tariffs were originally supposed to begin in February, but Trump agreed to a 30-day suspension to negotiate further with the two largest U.S. trading partners. The stated reason for the tariffs is to address drug trafficking and illegal immigration, and both countries say they’ve made progress on those issues. But Trump has also said the tariffs will only come down if the U.S. trade imbalance closes, a process unlikely to be settled on a political timeline.

There is the possibility of the tariffs being short-lived if the U.S. economy suffers, just as there is the possibility of more tariffs to come on the European Union, India, computer chips, autos and pharmaceutical drugs, as Trump has promised. The American president has injected a disorienting volatility into the world economy, leaving it off balance as people wonder what he’ll do next.

“It’s chaotic, especially compared to the way we saw tariffs rolled out in the first (Trump) administration,” said Michael House, co-chair of the international trade practice at the Perkins Coie law firm. “It’s unpredictable. We don’t know, in fact, what the president will do.’’

Democratic lawmakers were quick to criticize the tariffs, but even some Republican senators raised alarms.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she’s “very concerned” about the tariffs going into effect because of her state’s proximity to Canada.