The American commercial war begins, 25% of tariffs in Canada and Mexico enter into force

By Josh Boak, Paul Wiseman and Rob Gillies Associated Press

Washington (AP) -The tariffs enhanced by President Donald Trump against Canada and Mexico entered into force on Tuesday, putting global markets at the limit and establishing expensive reprisals by the allies of the United States of North America.

Starting almost after midnight, imports from Canada and Mexico will now be taxed at 25%, with Canadian energy products subject to import rights of 10%.

The 10% rate that Trump placed in Chinese imports in February doubled at 20%, and Beijing retaliates on Tuesday with tariffs of up to 15% in a wide range of US farm exports. It also extended the number of US companies subject to export controls and other restrictions in approximately two dozen.

The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his country slapped tariffs on more than $ 100 billion of US goods in the course of 21 days. Mexico did not immediately detailed any reprisal measure.

The movements of the president of the United States increased the fears of greater inflation and the perspective of a commercial war, even when it promised the American public that import taxes are the easiest way towards national prosperity. He has shown the will to reduce the warnings of conventional economists and put their own public approval on the line, believing that tariffs can fix what affirms to the country.

“It is a very powerful weapon that politicians have not used because they were dishonest, stupid or paid in some other way,” Trump said Monday at the White House. “And now we are using them.”

American markets fell sharply on Monday after Trump said “there was no space” for negotiations that could reduce rates. The actions in Europe and Asia were mostly lower on Tuesday after they entered into force.

The Tariffs of Canada and Mexico were supposed to begin in February, but Trump agreed a 30 -day suspension to negotiate even more with the two largest American business partners. The declared reason for tariffs is to address drug trafficking and illegal immigration, and both countries say they have progressed in these issues. But Trump has also said that tariffs will only be reduced if the commercial imbalance of the United States closes, it is unlikely that a process in a political timeline will be resolved.

Tariffs can be shortly if the US economy suffers. But Trump could also impose more tariffs on the European Union, India, computer chips, cars and pharmaceutical drugs. The US president has injected disorienting volatility into the world economy, leaving him out of balance when people ask what he will do next.

“It is chaotic, especially compared to the way we saw rates launched in the first administration (Trump),” said Michael House, co -president of international commercial practice at the Perkins Coie law firm. “It’s unpredictable. We do not know, in fact, what the president will do. ”

Democratic legislators quickly criticized tariffs, and even some Republican senators gave alarms.

Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she is “very worried” for rates that enter into force due to the proximity of her state to Canada.

“The economy of Maine and Canada are integrated,” said Collins, explaining that a large part of the lobsters and blueberries of the state are processed in Canada and then send back to the United States.

The world economy is now trapped in the fog of what appears to be a commercial war.

Even after Trump announced Monday that the tariffs were in the future, Canadian officials were still in contact with their US counterparts.

“The dialogue will continue, but we are ready to respond,” said Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair in Ottawa while entering a special meeting of the cabinet on relations between the United States and Canada. “There are still discussions that take place.”

Shortly after Blair spoke, Trudeau said that Canada would impose 25% tariffs on US Canadian products of $ 155 billion ($ 107 billion in the United States), starting with tariffs on Canadian goods ($ 21 billion) in US products.

“Our tariffs will remain in place until the commercial action of the United States is withdrawn, and if US tariffs do not stop, we are in active and continuous discussions with provinces and territories to follow several non -tariff measures,” Trudeau said.

The White House wishes to see a fall in fentanyl convulsions within the United States, not only on the borders of the north and south. Administration officials say that Fentanyl seizures last month everywhere, from Louisiana to New Jersey, had links with foreign posters.

Damon Pike, Leader of Technical Practice for Customs and Trade Services in the BDO Tax and Consulting Signature, suggested that other countries’ responses could increase commercial tensions and possibly increase economic pressure points.

“Canada has its list list,” said Pike. “The EU has its list list. It will be Tit for Tat. ”

Tim Houston, the leader of the province of the Atlantic Coast of Canada in Nueva Scotia, said he would lead the New Scotland Liquor Corporation that eliminates all the alcohol of the United States from the store shelves. Houston also said that his government will limit access to the provincial acquisition for US companies and double the cost of the United States commercial vehicles on a Peachada road.

The Trump administration has suggested that inflation will not be as bad as economists claim, saying that tariffs can motivate foreign companies to open factories in the United States. On Monday, Trump announced that the Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company, the computer chips manufacturer, would invest $ 100 billion in national production.

Even so, you can take time to distributed factories all over the world and train workers with the skills they need.

Greg Ahearn, president and CEO of the toys association, said that 20% tariffs on Chinese products will be “paralyzing” for the toy industry, since almost 80% of toys sold in the United States are made in China.

“There is a sophistication of manufacturing, of the tools,” he said. “There are many crafts that are part of these toys that many people do not understand … facial paint, facial masks, hair fabric, hair braided, cutting and sewing so that they look so that it looks like this. All that are very high hands, qualified labor that has passed through generations in the supply chain that exists with China.”

For a president who has promised fast results, Ahearn added a precautionary note about the speed with which the United States factories could match their Chinese rivals.

“That can’t be replicated during the night,” he said.