Canada and Mexico have issued responses following President Donald Trump’s implementation of substantial tariffs, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cautioning that these actions will have “real consequences for the American people.”
President Trump has been back in the White House for nearly two weeks, during which he has made a significant number of changes to how the United States is governed.
In fact, Trump set a record for the highest number of executive orders signed on his first day as president, focusing on passports and immigration among other priorities.
The Trump administration has also increased tariffs on imports from countries such as China, Canada, and Mexico, setting them at 25 percent for Mexico and Canada, and ten percent for goods from China.
As might be expected, these new policies have not been well received by officials in Canada, Mexico, and China.
Speaking shortly before the increased tariffs were announced on Saturday (February 1), Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated: “We’re ready with a response, a purposeful, forceful but reasonable, immediate response.”
During a press conference on Friday (January 31st), Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum remarked: “We have Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, depending on what the government of the United States decides.
“It is very important for the people of Mexico to know that we will always defend the dignity of our people, that we will always defend respect for our sovereignty, and engage in dialogue as equals, as we have always stated, without subordination.”
Both the Canadian and Mexican leaders announced counter-tariffs on Saturday evening in direct retaliation to Trump’s executive order.
Canada is set to impose 25 percent tariffs on CA $155 billion worth of U.S. goods.
Trudeau commented: “It will have real consequences for you, the American people.”
In a speech delivered on Saturday, the Canadian prime minister added: “The actions taken by the White House split us apart instead of bringing us together.”
Meanwhile, Sheinbaum disclosed in a Twitter post that she has instructed her economic minister to adopt measures to safeguard Mexico’s interests.
Mexico’s president wrote: “We categorically reject the White House’s slander that the Mexican government has alliances with criminal organisations, as well as any intention of meddling in our territory.”
“If the United States government and its agencies wanted to address the serious fentanyl consumption in their country, they could fight the sale of drugs on the streets of their major cities, which they don’t do, and the laundering of money that this illegal activity generates that has done so much harm to its population.”