On Thursday, February 27th, President Trump (Donald Trump) announced that due to the continuous inflow of drugs into the United States, tariffs on Canada and Mexico would take effect on March 4th. In addition, a 10% tariff will be imposed on goods imported from China.
President Trump posted this announcement early on Thursday on the “Truth Social” social media platform. He wrote, “Drugs continue to pour into our country in large quantities from Mexico and Canada, the sheer volume of which is unacceptable. A significant portion of these drugs, mostly fentanyl, are manufactured and supplied from China.”
He expressed that last year, over 100,000 Americans died due to the distribution of these dangerous and highly addictive drugs in the U.S. Over the past 20 years, millions of Americans have died. Families of the victims have suffered greatly, with many of them being nearly destroyed in various circumstances.
“We cannot allow this scourge to continue harming America, so the proposed tariffs targeting Canada and Mexico, originally scheduled to take effect on March 4th, will indeed be implemented as planned until it (the influx of drugs into the U.S.) is stopped or strictly controlled. An additional 10% tariff will also be imposed on China (goods) on that date,” wrote Trump.
He concluded by saying that the April deadline for the second round of reciprocal tariffs will remain completely valid.
On Wednesday, Trump held his first cabinet meeting, and when asked when the high new tariffs on Canada and Mexico would be imposed, he replied that it would take effect on April 2nd. This extended the final deadline by about a month.
“I must tell you, (the enforcement date is) April 2nd, I originally planned to do it on April 1st. But I am a bit superstitious, so I decided to start imposing tariffs on April 2nd,” Trump said.
He added that not all goods imported from Canada and Mexico, but “a significant portion,” would be subject to tariffs.
In recent weeks, officials from Canada and Mexico have been shuttling in Washington, D.C., trying to find ways to persuade Trump to abandon the tariff plan.