Donald Trump announced on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he intends to impose higher tariffs on several countries.
In his post, Trump revealed plans to issue “many” executive orders starting January 20, including raising tariffs on Chinese goods by 10% and on imports from Mexico and Canada by 25%. These actions not only target the United States’ three largest trading partners but could potentially dismantle the regional free trade agreement.
Trump justified these tariff increases as measures to combat illegal immigration and the illicit drug trade from China and Mexico, which are major sources of precursors for fentanyl. This synthetic opioid has been responsible for tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States.
Although the United States and China have pledged to combat the illicit drug trade by reducing supplies, Trump accused China of failing to fulfill its promises, including imposing the death penalty on drug dealers. He stated that massive quantities of drugs continue to flood into the U.S. and declared that until this stops, China will face an additional 10% tariff on top of existing ones.
Trump has threatened to impose a 60% tariff on all Chinese goods during his presidential campaign. Nevertheless, experts forecast that China can recover from this additional 10% by cutting interest rates, increasing fiscal stimulus, and moderately depreciating its currency to mitigate the economic impact.
