President Donald Trump has confirmed that his proposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada will begin on March 4, with an “additional 10 percent tariff” likely to be charged to China.
Drugs such as fentanyl “are still pouring into our country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, stating that many of them are “made in, and supplied by, China.”
“More than 100,000 people died last year due to the distribution of these dangerous and highly addictive POISONS. Millions of people have died over the last two decades. The families of the victims are devastated and, in many instances, virtually destroyed,” the president continued in his Thursday morning statement.
WATCH — Country Star Jelly Roll Speaks About Fentanyl’s Devastation of America: “I Was Part of the Problem”:
“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled,” Trump wrote, before adding that “China will likewise be charged an additional 10 percent Tariff on that date.”
Trump previously stated that tariffs on goods from both Canada and Mexico would be 25 percent and has already levied a 10 percent tariff on China — meaning his latest statement to charge them an “additional 10 percent” would double the impact.
In his Thursday post, he also added that the “April Second Reciprocal Tariff date will remain in full force and effect.”
The second plans that Trump mentioned are set to launch on April 2, resetting tariffs to “match the taxes that he determines are charged by other countries on American goods,” PBS reported.
The president’s Truth Social announcement came before the 30-day embargo on tariffs between the U.S. and Canada comes to a close next week.
Left-wing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced his intention to resign as prime minister last month, has previously warned that his country will respond with retaliatory tariffs and “prices for American consumers on just about everything will go up.”
While announcing the 30-day pause in early February, Trudeau also said Canada is implementing a $1.3 billion border plan with “enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl.”
WATCH — Trump on Negotiations with Trudeau: We Don’t Need Canada “for Anything”:
In a Wednesday meeting with Canada’s premiers, the prime minister stated that he “remains hopeful that tariffs will not be imposed, but he reiterated that Canada stands ready to respond if needed,” according to his office.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum also agreed to beef up border security in the beginning of February to temporarily stop U.S. tariffs, with Trump saying they had a “very friendly” conversation in order to work on a “deal between our two countries.”
A staggering 21,248 pounds of fentanyl — enough to kill 4.8 billion people — was seized at the U.S.-Mexico border during the last fiscal year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.
While significantly less fentanyl travels into the U.S. from the Canadian border, with 43 pounds seized in the last fiscal year, that figure represents a massive 2050 percent increase from FY 2023.
Just the day before Trump announced that he would be moving forward with the tariffs, Louisiana’s East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office said they seized more than two pounds of fentanyl.
In January, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Arizona law enforcement announced they seized 161 pounds of fentanyl pills and 47 pounds of fentanyl powder in Phoenix, enough to kill millions of Americans.
Fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans between aged 18 to 45, killing 74,702 Americans in 2023 and 76,226 Americans in 2022, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
