President-elect Donald Trump promised Monday night that his administration will impose 25 percent tariffs on products from Mexico and Canada until they help the U.S. limit the flow of illegal immigration.
Trump announced his plan to enact the tariffs on Day One of his administration through an executive order that would be lifted once Canada and Mexico assist the U.S. with reducing illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl into the country.
“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country! Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem.”
Tariffs were a signature policy of the first Trump administration and one of the once-and-future president’s core campaign promises. Trump’s aggressive immigration policy is another position he has taken throughout his political career, and it’s an issue that helped propel him to a decisive electoral victory this cycle.
Trump selected former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Tom Homan to be his border czar and picked Republican South Dakota governor Kristi Noem to serve as Homeland Security secretary and carry out mass deportations of illegal immigrants.
The president-elect also revealed Monday his plan to subject all Chinese goods to tariffs that are ten percentage points higher than current levels to ensure that China gets on board with Trump’s effort to mitigate the flow of fentanyl.
“Representatives of China told me that they would institute their maximum penalty, that of death, for any drug dealers caught doing this but, unfortunately, they never followed through, and drugs are pouring into our Country, mostly through Mexico, at levels never seen before,” Trump said in another Truth Social post.
“Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America.”
Trump’s tariff plan was widely expected given his campaign promises and the actions he took during his first term. He has floated as much as a 60 percent tariff on all Chinese goods and a 10 percent tariff on all U.S. imports. It remains to be seen how the incoming Trump administration will implement the tariffs if enacted as promised.
American corporations have been preparing for Trump’s fresh round of tariffs by stocking up on imports and evaluating strategies for coping with their ramifications. The Biden administration maintained many of the tariffs Trump imposed on China in his first term and enacted increases designed to bolster American manufacturing and green energy industries.
Trump and his supporters have long argued tariffs are needed to promote American industries and prioritize American goods over products coming in from other countries. Those arguments are frequently made in the context of American geopolitical competition with China and the deindustrialization of formerly prosperous American towns. Vice President-elect J. D. Vance is a leading proponent of his running mate’s tariff proposals.
“It’s important for our friends and neighbors to not let poison into our country. If they fail to meet this basic obligation they’re going to pay up,” Vance said on X.
Opponents of tariffs, including many economists, argue they increase prices on American consumers and businesses without benefiting the overall economy enough to offset the costs, or providing an impactful amount of revenue to the federal government.
A poll from CBS News taken after the election found 52 percent of Americans favor tariffs and 48 percent oppose them. Among Trump voters, 83 percent approved of his tariff policy and many of them do not believe tariffs will increase prices. The CBS survey had a 2.3 percent margin of error either way with a nationally representative sample of 2,232 American adults.