China, Mexico and Canada responded to US President Donald Trump yesterday, Saturday, to impose large customs duties on their exports to the United States.
Trump called on the three countries to stop the flow of narcotic fentanel and illegal immigrants to the United States, to burn a trade war that may undermine global growth and fuel inflation.
Mexico and Canada, the largest commercial partner of the United States, pledged immediately to impose counter -duties, while China said it would challenge Trump’s decision to the World Trade Organization and will take other “counter measures”.
On 3 executive orders, Trump imposed customs duties by 25% on Mexican and Canadian imports, with the exception of Canadian energy imports, which will be imposed by 10%, and 10% graphics on goods coming from China, starting next Tuesday.
China
On Sunday, the Chinese government condemned Trump’s decisions, but left the door open to talks with the United States, which might prevent the conflict from exacerbating.
The Chinese Finance and Trade Ministries said that Beijing will challenge Trump’s decision in the World Trade Organization, which is a symbolic action, and will take “counter measures” in response to the fees that enter into force on Tuesday without specifying the nature of these measures.
China did not reach the point of immediate escalation that the trade war with Trump was characterized during its first presidential term, but rather the same tone was accurately calculated by China in the past few weeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aym4vj3wgwg
Canada
For his part, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his country will impose customs duties of 25% on US imports of $ 155 billion Canadian dollars (106.5 billion dollars) in response to American customs duties.
Trudeau said in a press conference that customs duties worth 30 billion Canadian dollars will enter into force starting from Tuesday, and drawings of $ 125 billion Canadian dollars will enter into force after 21 days.
The Canadian Prime Minister added at the press conference that his country’s response will be widely, and will include products such as alcoholic drinks, fruit juices, vegetables, perfumes, clothes, shoes, home appliances, furniture, sports equipment, wood and plastic.
“We are studying a variety of non -customs measures in our response to additional American fees, including some measures related to biomedics, energy supplies and other partnerships,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau stressed that this situation “would harm Canadians economically, in parallel with the creation of great consequences for the American people.”
His speech to the American people added, “The customs duties imposed on Canada will endanger your jobs, and may lead to the closure of American cars assembly factories and other manufacturing facilities, and the costs will increase to you, including food and fuel prices.”
The Canadian Prime Minister said that customs duties would also deny Americans to reach goods at reasonable prices, and violate the free trade agreement between the two countries.
“If President Trump wants to launch a new golden era for the United States, then the best way to this goes through partnership with Canada and not by punishing us,” he added.
Mexico and the plan b
In turn, Mexican President Claudia Shinbom said that she directed her government to implement the plan B after the United States imposed additional customs duties by 25% on the goods imported from her country.
She stressed in a publication on the X platform on Saturday that “issues cannot be resolved by force, but by reason and law,” adding that she directed her Minister of Economy to implement an alternative plan that guarantees the imposition of customs duties and other economic measures to protect the interests of Mexico.
It expressed Mexico’s rejection of “the White House fabrications that seek to depict the Mexican government as allied with criminal organizations.”
She responded to the American side accusing her country of smuggling (narcotic) fentanels to the United States.
“If the American administration and its institutions really want to address the serious problem of consuming fentanel in her country, it can combat drug sales in the streets of major cities and money laundering caused by this illegal activity,” she said.
She suggested that US President Donald Trump establish a cooperative work mechanism that includes the best experts in the field of security and public health, to address the problem of smuggling.
In a post on the “Truth Social” platform on Saturday, Trump commented on the decision to impose additional fees, saying, “We must protect the Americans, and as a president, it is my duty to ensure the safety of all citizens. I promised during my campaign to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs across our borders, and voted Americans With an overwhelming majority in favor of that. “
He said that this decision was implemented through the international emergency economic powers law “because of the great threat posed by illegal immigrants and drugs that cause death to American citizens, including fentanel.”
