United States President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to impose tariffs of 25 percent on Canadian and Mexican imports, and an “additional” 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods as soon as he takes office in January.Trump, who announced the plans on Monday on his social media platform Truth Social, said the measures were in response to Canada and Mexico’s failure to keep undocumented workers and drugs from flowing across the US border.
He said the additional tariffs on China were a response to the flow of drugs, in particular, the deadly opiate fentanyl, into the US.
The three countries are the US’s largest trade partners, accounting for 43 percent of imports last year worth more than $1.3 trillion, according to the US Census Bureau.
Economists say the tariffs will lead to higher prices of numerous goods in the US, particularly if the measures lead to an escalating war of tit-for-tat trade restrictions among the countries.
“If we take Trump’s threats at face value, then it means come January 20, we will see prices rise immediately,” Nick Marro, lead analyst for global trade at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), told Al Jazeera.
“US companies will feel it first, but there will be a trickle-down effect passed down to US consumers.”
Higher prices at the grocery store would come as Americans are already concerned about the cost of groceries …
