President Trump is speeding up the deadline for when America will impose 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada, saying he has not seen sufficient progress from the two countries on stopping the flow of fentanyl.
During a meeting with British Prime Minister Starmer at the White House on Thursday, a reporter asked the president why he was imposing tariffs on Canada when about one percent of fentanyl is coming through the northern border. Mr. Trump argued that Canadian officials could stop even more drugs from entering the country.
Mr. Trump first announced the date in a post on Truth Social, saying that “drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels.”
“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,” he said.
The new March 4 date comes a day after Mr. Trump had said the Mexico and Canada tariffs would take effect a month later on April 2. He also said that America would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on China on March 4.
On Ukraine, Trump was asked by a reporter if he still believed Ukraine President Zelensky was a “dictator” as he said recently. “Did I say that?” Trump responded, half smiling. “I can’t believe I said that. Next question please.”
Another reporter during the press availability with Mr. Starmer noted that Mr. Trump had previously said the European Union was designed to “screw” America, and asked Mr. Starmer could say to prevent tariffs from being imposed on the United Kingdom.
“We happen to have a great relationship with [the U.K.]. We do have problems with the EU because they’ve tariffed us. They do it in the form of VAT tax, which is about 20 percent,” the president said.
Mr. Trump voiced his frustration with his belief that European nations were not spending enough on defense. He also criticized the EU for filing lawsuits against American-based companies, and repeated his claim that they were loaning money to Ukraine and would get their funds back.
Finally, he returned to the topic of potential tariffs on the U.K., which he said he has a “great warm spot” for. While Mr. Starmer interjected to say America’s trade relationship with the U.K. was more balanced than with EU nations, Mr. Trump did not appear to take tariffs off the table.
“We’ll have to take a look,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re going to have a good discussion, and we’ll be talking about that.”
During his meeting with Mr. Starmer, Mr. Trump said the so-called reciprocal tariffs for the rest of the world take effect on April 2.
“The United States has been taken advantage of by many, many different countries, including our friends – friend and foe,” he said.
Mr. Starmer was visiting the White House to discuss America’s support for Ukraine but also to try to extract an exemption from tariffs for the U.K.
He also gave Trump a letter from King Charles inviting the American president to make a state visit to England. Mr. Starmer said that was “unprecedented.”
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Publish date : 2025-02-27 07:58:00
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