Trump announces that he will resume tariffs against Mexico and Canada on March 4

President Donald Trump announced Monday during a press conference at the White House that the tariffs he had threatened to implement against all imports from Mexico and Canada "will go forward" when the one-month extension on their implementation expires on March 4. Although the governments of those countries have stepped up their actions against fentanyl trafficking, the Republican leader noted that the United States has "been taken advantage of" by other countries on "just about everything," and reiterated his plan to impose the reciprocal tariffs.

Asked whether the tariffs he decided to postpone on the two American trading partners would be resumed soon, Trump replied, "The tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule. We're going to make up a lot of territory."

The U.S. president signed executive orders on February 1 imposing tariffs of 10% on Canadian energy and 25% on all products from both Canada and Mexico. Two days after ordering the tariffs, Trump decided to pause them after Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and Mexico's President, Claudia Sheinbaum, pledged to strengthen border security of their respective countries.

In an announcement posted via his Truth Social account on Feb. 3, the Republican leader commented on the new agreements, noting that duties on imports from Mexico and tariffs on goods from Canada would be postponed for a month.

Canada and Mexico's reactions

A few minutes after Trump announced the resumption of tariffs, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly commented to reporters in London that the Canadian government would respond forcefully if Trump maintained his position. Joly explained that the Canadian government designed a plan to impose retaliatory tariffs on all U.S. products worth up to $155 billion at the time Trump initiated the trade war, adding that Ottawa would reactivate that plan if the U.S. president did not desist.

For her part, the Mexican president had commented during an interview, shortly before Trump revealed the resumption of tariffs on Mexico and Canada, that her government would maintain ongoing negotiations with the White House throughout the week to prevent Trump from imposing the 25% tariffs on Mexican products. Sheinbaum even added that members of Mexico's Economy and Finance ministries would hold meetings with their counterparts in the Trump administration and detailed that she herself would be willing to talk with the U.S. president if necessary.