Trump’s trade war heats up as countries retaliate against tariffs

The United States lifted its month-long pause on tariffs for Canada and Mexico today, ending the possibility that the duties would be pushed back a second time.

Beginning Tuesday, imports from each country will now be subject to a 25% tariff, per amendments to President Donald Trump’s executive orders from last month. There will also be a 10% tariff on Canadian energy products, per the orders.

The tariffs on Canada and Mexico were originally set to go into effect Feb. 4 following executive orders from Trump. However, the U.S. delayed the duties by roughly a month after reaching temporary agreements with both countries.

The deals centered around reducing migration into the U.S. and fentanyl trafficking. Last week, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said both Mexico and Canada still had to prove to the president they had satisfactorily addressed those two issues to receive another pause.

According to a White House notice published Monday, the two countries “have failed to adequately address the situation,” leading to the implementation of tariffs.

“Let me be unequivocally clear – there is no justification for these actions,” Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement Monday.

Canada will respond to the new duties by enacting retaliatory tariffs of 25% against $155 billion worth of U.S. goods, $30 billion of which would start today, according to Trudeau. The remaining $125 billion of products will be subject to tariffs in 21 days.

Mexico on Sunday will announce its own countermeasures, including tariff and non-tariff actions, President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a press conference Tuesday.

Sheinbaum called Trump’s tariffs a unilateral action, and his messaging defamatory. She said Mexico and the U.S. had taken significant actions over the past month to combat organized crime and fentanyl trafficking, and improve the countries’ collaboration on security and commercial topics.

“There is no motivation, reason, nor justification that supports this decision that will affect our peoples and nations,” Sheinbaum said in Spanish. “We have said it in different ways: cooperation and coordination, yes; subordination and interventionism, no. Mexico should be respected. We are equal nations.”

Meanwhile, Trump increased tariffs on China by 10% Monday via an amendment to an executive order he originally signed last month. The action builds upon the 10% jump from the initial order, which went into effect Feb. 4.

As with tariffs on Canada and Mexico, the Trump administration said the increased duties on China were due to the country’s “failure” to cooperate with the administration’s push to stem the importation of fentanyl.

China is retaliating against the tariff hike with added duties on a variety of U.S. agricultural imports starting March 10, according to an announcement from the country’s Ministry of Finance.

The country will impose an additional 15% tariff on chicken, wheat, corn and cotton from the U.S. It will also levy a new 10% tariff on the following U.S. imports: pork, beef, sorghum, soybeans, aquatic products, fruits, vegetables and dairy products.

The planned countermeasures come after China placed added tariffs of 10% to 15% on some car, equipment and energy imports from the U.S. in February in response to previous Trump administration tariff actions.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperso…