US tariffs on Chinese goods go into effect

(VOA) - New U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods went into effect Tuesday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump backed off plans to impose tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods.

The new 10% duty that Trump announced Saturday is a first step in pressuring China, the president said Monday. China has said it would take countermeasures in response to the tariff, including action at the World Trade Organization.

Trump pledged to impose the tariff to push China to take action to prevent fentanyl smuggling into the United States.

The U.S. government has identified China as a major source of the precursor chemicals used by Mexican drug cartels to manufacture fentanyl.

"China hopefully is going to stop sending us fentanyl, and if they're not, the tariffs are going to go substantially higher," Trump said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Trump would speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming days.

Trump on Monday announced a one-month pause for the 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods after he spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Sheinbaum said she would dispatch 10,000 National Guard troops to try to curb the flow of fentanyl into the United States.

"Mexico will reinforce the northern border … to stop drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, in particular fentanyl," Sheinbaum posted on X after talking with Trump. "The United States commits to work to stop the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico."

The Mexican leader added that the two countries would continue talks on security and trade and that "the tariffs are put on pause for a month from now."

Trudeau said Canada would deploy new technology and personnel along its border with the United States to stop the flow of fentanyl.

"I just had a good call with President Trump," Trudeau said on X. "Proposed tariffs will be paused for at least 30 days while we work together."

Both Sheinbaum and Trudeau, representing two of the three biggest U.S. trading partners along with China, protested Trump’s tariff plans and vowed to retaliate.

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Monday that it was misleading to characterize the showdown over tariffs as a trade war, despite the planned retaliations from Mexico, Canada and China and the risk of escalation.

"Read the executive order where President Trump was absolutely, 100% clear that this is not a trade war," Hassett said. "This is a drug war."

Trump acknowledged Sunday that the new tariffs on the three biggest U.S. trading partners could hit inflation-weary Americans with higher prices for groceries, gasoline, cars and other consumer goods, but said the higher tariffs would be “worth the price” to bolster U.S. interests.

U.S. consumers could face higher prices because companies that pay the tariffs to the federal government to import goods from other countries then often pass on at least part, if not all, of their higher costs to consumers, rather than absorb their extra expenses themselves.

 

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.