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US president-elect says measures will remain until countries stamp out illegal border crossings and drug trafficking.
United States President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to slap a 25 percent tariff on all goods from Mexico and Canada and an additional 10 percent on Chinese products in response to illegal border crossings and drug trafficking.
Trump said on Monday that he would impose tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports on day one of his administration and that the measures would remain until the “invasion” of undocumented migrants and drugs came to an end.
“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.
“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 said in a subsequent post that he would also impose a 10 percent tariff on China, “above any additional tariffs”, until the country took action to stop fentanyl smuggling.
“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,” Trump said.
During his election campaign, Trump pledged to impose tariffs of 60 percent or more on imports of Chinese goods and suggested he could impose a tariff of 200 percent or higher on vehicles imported from Mexico.
Many economists have warned that Trump’s proposals for broad-based tariffs would raise the cost of everyday items in the US and dampen global growth.
Trump’s supporters have argued that tariffs would encourage the return of manufacturing jobs from overseas and give his administration greater leverage to extract more favourable trade deals from other countries.
