US president Donald Trump warned Americans they may feel economic “pain” from his tariffs on key trading partners but said it is a price “that must be paid”.
Mr Trump has unleashed severe levies of 25 per cent on Canada and Mexico and 10 per cent on China.
It marks the start of a wave of promised trade barrages against foreign allies and adversaries alike.
“Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!)“ Mr Trump wrote on Sunday in all capital letters on his Truth social media platform, a day after signing off on tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China.
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“But we will Make America Great Again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid,” he added.
The tariffs take effect at 1.01am on Tuesday, and it is unclear if that offers a last-chance window for a deal.
They apply to a wide range of goods from three of the biggest US trading partners.
The tariffs may not end there.
On Friday, Trump said that he “absolutely” will impose tariffs on the EU. The European Commission and member states will discuss the possibility during a trade ministerial in Warsaw on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the commission said that the 27-member bloc was not aware at this stage of any additional tariffs being imposed on EU products, highlighting that the trade and investment relationship with the US was the biggest in the world. The use of tariffs was “hurtful on all sides,” the spokesman said, and the EU regretted Trump’s decision to impose them on Canada, Mexico and China.
“The EU would respond firmly to any trading partner that unfairly or arbitrarily imposes tariffs on EU goods,” the spokesperson said. “There is a lot at stake.”
Canada and Mexico meanwhile announced their own plans for retaliatory tariffs on the United States.
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said Canada will respond by placing 25 per cent counter-tariffs on $107 billion worth of American-made products.
“We don’t want to be here,” Mr Trudeau said in a sombre televised address from Ottawa, Ontario, that evoked the deep bonds between the two neighbours and close trading partners. “We didn’t ask for this.”
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He addressed Americans directly, saying that the US tariffs on Canadian goods would harm them, too.
“This is a choice that, yes, will harm Canadians, but beyond that, it will have real consequences for you, the American people,” he said. “As I have consistently said, tariffs against Canada will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American auto assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities.”
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said she instructed the economy minister to kick off a response plan that includes retaliatory tariffs against the levies.
Mr Trump’s orders also included retaliation clauses that would increase US tariffs if the countries respond in kind. The new measures will be on top of existing trade levies on those countries.
American beer, wine, food and appliances will be among the many items subject to Canadian tariffs, and the country is also considering measures related to critical minerals, Mr Trudeau said.
He encouraged Canadians to buy locally made products and skip US vacations.
China’s government on Sunday denounced the 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports while leaving the door open for talks with the US that could avoid a deepening conflict.
Mr Trump’s tariffs deliver on a threat to punish the three countries for what he says is a failure to prevent the flow of undocumented migrants and illegal drugs, though he had also teased the possibility of a reprieve if Mexico and Canada took steps to address his concerns.
Energy imports from Canada, including oil and electricity, will be spared from the full 25 per cent levy and will face a 10 per cent tariff. The White House officials said that was intended to minimise upward pressure on gasoline and home-heating oil prices.
The move is explosive in scale and goes well beyond Mr Trump’s first-term tariffs. They all but abandon the trade deal he negotiated with Canada and Mexico in his first term and will raise the cost of key goods, such as food, housing and gasoline for Americans.
The overall fallout threatens to spill widely across the countries, which are the largest three sources of US imports, accounting for almost half of total volume.
Mr Trump campaigned on a platform of extensive tariffs and he followed through, though dialling back his planned measures on China while increasing it on his neighbours.
On Friday, Mr Trump said the EU was on his list of future targets. “Am I going to impose tariffs on the European Union? Absolutely,” Mr Trump said. He pointed to the big deficit in trade the US has with the EU and said “we’ll be doing something very substantial with the European Union”.
Depending on the details, US tariffs on imports from the EU could seriously hit Irish exports to the American market, including multi-billion euro annual sales of pharmaceutical products.
Most mainstream economists and many business groups warn that trade levies will disrupt supply chains, raise prices for consumers already wary of inflation and reduce global trade flows.
The measures Mr Trump is taking will have particularly stark implications for the auto and energy sectors.
Auto interests warned that because of the tight integration of US and Canadian manufacturing, the tariffs could have steep impacts on the industry.
Under an energy emergency Mr Trump declared his first day in office, affected products given that lower 10 per cent tariff also include refined gasoline and diesel, uranium, coal, biofuels and critical minerals.
Parts of the US, including the Pacific Northwest and Northeast US, are deeply reliant on electricity or gas flows from Canada. And oil industry advocates have warned against even a 10 per cent increase in the cost of crude inputs into midwestern refineries that have few near-term options to substitute with US supplies.
Democrats wasted no time in pouncing on messaging around how the latest trade moves could impact families’ budgets. “These tariffs will be devastating for American consumers,” congressman Greg Stanton, an Arizona Democrat, and some 40 colleagues wrote in a Saturday letter.
“Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and Canada will make your life more expensive,” Mr Stanton said more bluntly in a separate post on X.
Meanwhile, Republican support has been muted at best. The party’s free-trade wing has all but bowed to Mr Trump’s penchant for tariffs.
The US president’s tariff orders Saturday invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and expand an earlier declaration rooted in the National Emergencies Act to address what he calls a “threat to the safety and security of Americans, including the public health crisis of deaths due to the use of fentanyl.”
Beijing will challenge Mr Trump’s tariff at the World Trade Organization and take unspecified “countermeasures” in response to the levy, which takes effect on Tuesday, the finance and commerce ministries said.
China’s commerce ministry said in a statement that Mr Trump’s move “seriously violates” international trade rules, urging the US to “engage in frank dialogue and strengthen co-operation”.
“Fentanyl is America’s problem,” China’s foreign ministry said. “The Chinese side has carried out extensive anti-narcotics co-operation with the United States and achieved remarkable results.” – Agencies
