By james art 
Washington – President Donald Trump plans to apply tariffs to Canada, Mexico and China on Saturday, with a potential commercial war that is likely to lead to an increase in grocery prices and many other products.
White House press secretary Carolyn Levitt said during a briefing on Friday that Trump would put 25% tariffs for goods coming to the United States from Canada and Mexico, and a 10% tariff for import from China. Tariffs are paid by businesses that carry goods in the United States from other countries and they often pass the increase in consumer costs.
“Tariffs arrive tomorrow in Canada and the reason for this is because both Canada and Mexico have allowed unprecedented invasion of an illegal fentanyl, which kills American citizens, as well as illegal immigrants in our country,” Levit said.
Trump has not yet decided whether he will later apply tariffs to the European Union, composed of 27 countries, according to Levit.
“I will not ahead the president of the tariffs when it comes to the European Union,” she said.
Trump said later on Friday from the Oval Office that he did not use tariffs as a negotiating tool, but as a way to raise the revenue for the federal government and to draw attention to fentanyl flowing into the country.
“We are not looking for a concession. We’ll just see what happens, “Trump said.
The new tariffs will be arranged on existing tariffs, he said.
Trump said he plans to add additional tariffs at some point to computer chips and “things related to chips”, butter and gas, steel, aluminum, copper, pharmaceutical products and “all forms of medicine”.
Trump said he would probably apply oil and gas tariffs on February 18, but did not provide dates to other rates.
Trump has rejected a question about how tariffs would affect prices, stating that he was chosen to reduce inflation. He said he was not concerned about the reaction of the stock market on Friday afternoon at the upcoming tariffs.
Many economists, including those in conservative brain trusts, such as the US Institute of Enterprises, have warned not to apply tariffs widely in this way.
Phil Gram, former Republican Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and Senior Assistant at AEI, and Larry Summers, a former secretary of the Ministry of Finance during the Clinton Administration, wrote an option published by The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, calling on Trump not executing Tariffs.
“Our united opposition to defense -related tariffs is not based on our faith in free trade, but on evidence that tariffs are harmful to the economy,” they wrote.
“Protective tariffs distort domestic production, forcing local producers to work and capital for the production of goods and services that could be acquired more cheaply on the international market,” writes Gram and Samors. “This work and capital, in turn, deviate from the production of goods and services that cannot be acquired more cheaply internationally. In the process of productivity, salaries and economic growth fall as prices rise. Tariffs and revenge, they also carry our economic and security. “
Levitt said during a press briefing that Trump alone can decide whether he will eventually raise or change tariffs, while rejecting the potential effects on the US economy.
The US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service writes on its website that Canada and Mexico “are the first and third largest suppliers in the United States (an average of $ 30.9 billion and $ 25.5 billion in 2017- 21, respectively).
“Mexico has delivered 31 percent of imported gardening products to the United States, including fruits, vegetables and alcoholic beverages. Canada is also a source of gardening products as well as cereals and meat. “
The service of the United States Sales Representative wrote on its website that the US had imported goods worth $ 562.9 billion from China in 2022.
The export of the US agriculture to China, which can be influenced by the retributed tariffs, amounts to $ 36.4 billion in a fiscal 2022, according to the USDA foreign agricultural service.
“The US exports have returned to the growth of trends experienced after the joining of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and in the last 2 years the United States has witnessed record values of China for soybeans, corn, corn, Beef, chicken meat, tree nuts and sorghum. Cotton exports to China also recovers, driven by strong demand. All of these products are major contributions to the US farm economy. “
Ashley Murray contributed to this report.
Last updated 16:27, 31 January 2025