United States President Donald Trump intends to go ahead with his plan to impose tariffs on Mexican and Canadian exports to the U.S. this Saturday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
On his first day in office on Jan. 20, Trump said that his administration could impose a 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian exports to the U.S. on Feb. 1, almost two weeks later than he previously planned.
Karoline Leavitt on tariffs: “The President has made it very clear, again, that he expects every nation around this world to cooperate with the repatriation of their citizens. And the President has also put out specific statements in terms of Canada and Mexico…” pic.twitter.com/bXU7dL4GjY
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) January 28, 2025
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke about the issue at her first White House press briefing Tuesday.
“We’re thinking in terms of 25% on Mexico and Canada because they’re allowing vast numbers of people … to come in and fentanyl to come in,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
At what was Leavitt’s first media briefing as White House press secretary, a reporter asked for an update on Trump’s tariff agenda, including his plan to impose the 25% duties.
“He was asked and answered this question this past weekend … and he said that the February 1 date for Canada and Mexico still holds,” said Leavitt, who, at 27, is the youngest-ever White House press secretary.
She also said that Trump is “committed to implementing tariffs effectively, just like he did in his first term.”
U.S. tariffs on Mexican and Canadian exports would violate the terms of the USMCA free trade pact, but the U.S. president appears unconcerned about falling foul of the rules of the agreement he signed during his first term.
Asked whether the Canadian and Mexican governments have “met the bar” set by Trump regarding ramping up efforts to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States, Leavitt was circumspect.
“I won’t get ahead of the president on advocating to foreign nations on what they should and shouldn’t do to get away from these tariffs,” she said.
“The president has made it very clear that he expects every nation around this world to cooperate with the repatriation of their citizens, and the president has also put out specific statements in terms of Canada and Mexico when it comes to what he expects in terms of border security,” Leavitt said.
“We have seen a historic level of cooperation from Mexico but, again, as far as I’m still tracking, and that was last night, talking to the president directly, February 1 is still on the books,” she said.
President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated Monday that her government will seek dialogue with the Trump administration over the proposed tariffs. She expressed confidence that a bilateral agreement to avert the planned 25% tariff will be reached, but time to secure a deal is running out.
Mexican officials have stressed that they are already taking strong action against narcotics, touting arrests of high-profile cartel figures and large drug seizures, including the confiscation of more than 1 tonne of fentanyl in two busts in Sinaloa last month.
But unnamed White House advisers who recently spoke to The Wall Street Journal said that Trump feels that Mexico and Canada aren’t taking his threats seriously and wants to impose tariffs on their exports to prove he isn’t bluffing and to force them to negotiate on a range of issues, including migration, drug smuggling and the USMCA.
The imposition of the proposed tariffs on Mexican exports would have a major impact on Mexico’s economy, where economic growth slowed in 2024. The tariffs could even trigger a recession.
Mexico sends more than 80% of its exports to the United States and is the world’s top exporter to that country.
The imposition of tariffs on Mexican exports would also likely cause the Mexican peso to depreciate against the US dollar.
On the social media platform X on Tuesday, above a graph showing that the peso has appreciated against the dollar — despite Leavitt’s remarks — the director of economic analysis at Mexican bank Banco Base, Gabriela Siller, wrote: “Almost nobody believes that Trump will impose 25% tariffs on [U.S.] imports from Mexico.”
Mexico News Daily
