March 3 (UPI) — President Donald Trump will enforce tariffs on Tuesday against Canada and Mexico, but at what percentage, he has yet to decide, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
“He’s sort of thinking about right now how exactly he wants to play it with Mexico and Canada,” Lutnick told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo during Sunday Morning Futures. “And that’s a fluid situation.”
“There are going to be tariffs on Tuesday on Mexico and Canada,” Lutnick continued. “Exactly what they are, we’re going to leave that for the president and his team to negotiate.”
Lutnick said the uncertainty was due to Canada and Mexico having done “a reasonable job” of preventing drugs from entering their borders.
Even before he was inaugurated, Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico over concerns with drugs entering the United States via its southern and northern borders.
Uncertainty has surrounded those punitive measures though as the White House imposed them early last month but then paused them after Canada appointed a so-called fentanyl czar and Mexico said it would deploy 10,000 troops to its shared border with the United States.
Despite the moves by Ottawa and Mexico City, the United States has continued to threaten that the tariffs will be imposed, though potentially not until April.
On Thursday, Trump confirmed the United States would be hitting Canada and Mexico with sanctions on Tuesday, while stating China would be hit with an additional 10% tariff for a combined tariff of 20%.
Canada, China and Mexico are the United States’ three largest trading partners.
Economists warn that the tariffs will have a negative impact on the United States and American consumers. The Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics states that tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China would cost the typical U.S. household more than $1,200 a year.
