US President-elect Donald Trump on Monday announced his intention to sign orders on his first day in office in January that will impose a 25 per cent tariff on all goods from Mexico and Canada unless they stop the flow of illegal immigrants and fentanyl drugs through their countries into the United States.
Trump also announced he will slap a tariff of 10 per cent over and above existing rates on goods from China if it did not act decisively to stop fentanyl coming to the US.
President-elect Trump said frequently during the campaign that he will use tariffs to protect and promote US interests. However, economists have warned that these tariffs will end up raising prices in the US as importers and companies making products in targeted countries tend to pass on the burden of the tariff hikes to consumers, who, in this instance, will be American buyers.
“On January 20, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25 per cent Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns.
“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. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”
Trump trained his guns on China in the second post shortly on Truth Social: “I have had many talks with China about the massive amounts of drugs, in particular, Fentanyl, being sent into the United States — But to no avail. 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. Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10 per cent Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America.”
Trump had made illegal immigration a key issue of his presidential campaign, claiming it was at the root of every conceivable problem, especially crime.
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes fentanyl as “a powerful synthetic opioid that can be used for surgery or to treat severe pain”.
It says further “the majority of fentanyl-related harms and overdoses are linked to illegally made fentanyl (IMF). Fentanyl and fentanyl analogs have contributed to a dramatic rise in US drug overdose deaths”.
According to the CDC, nearly 74,000 drug overdose deaths involved synthetic opioids (other than methadone) in 2022. This is a nearly five per cent increase from the number in 2021.
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