INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
United States President Donald Trump on Thursday said his proposed 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods will take effect on March 4
along with an extra 10% duty on Chinese imports because deadly drugs are still pouring into the United States from those countries.Trump
told reporters in the Oval Office that the fresh tariffs on Chinese imports would stack on top of the 10% tariff that he levied on Feb
4 over the fentanyl opioid crisis, resulting in a cumulative 20% tariff, Reuters reported.Trump first announced the new duties on Chinese
imports in a post, opens new tab on his Truth Social site that he would impose the additional 10% tariff, effective March 4.In the post,
Trump said drugs, namely fentanyl, were still coming into the United States at &very high and unacceptable levels,& with a large percentage
of them the deadly opioid fentanyl.Trump told reporters he decided to add the extra tariffs on China and stick to the Tuesday deadline for
Canada and Mexico given what his administration sees as insufficient progress on curbing fentanyl flows into the country.Asked if Mexico and
Canada had made enough progress on curbing fentanyl shipments into the United States , Trump said: &I don''t see that at all
No, not on drugs.There are ongoing discussions with the Chinese, Mexico and Canada,& a White House official told Reuters
&We&ve gotten a good handle on the migration issue, but there are still concerns on the other issue of fentanyl deaths.Sources told Reuters
that Mexico will extradite to the United States drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was convicted in 1985 of murdering a United States Drug
Enforcement Administration agent but released in 2013 and returned to trafficking.According to the Centers for Disease Control, 72,776
people died from synthetic opioids in 2023 in the United States , chiefly from fentanyl.FOREIGN AID FREEZECustoms and Border Patrol agents
seized 991 pounds of fentanyl at the southwest border in January 2025, down 50.5% from a year earlier, but still enough to kill many
millions of Americans, the White House official said.Trump&s move to blame Mexico and Canada for the continuing flow of fentanyl into the
United States comes as his freeze on American foreign aid is disrupting efforts to fight the illicit trade.Reuters reported on Monday that
his aid freeze has stalled the planned expansion of a United Nations program to help the Mexican Navy better screen cargo and interdict
fentanyl ingredients and other contraband, and other activities.Also hampering United States drug interdiction efforts is a decision by
United States Customs and Border Protection to delay implementation of a ban on duty-free low-value package shipments from Canada, China
and Mexico until better screening can be implemented.TARIFF TACTICSTrump&s decision to ratchet up tariffs on Chinese goods mirrors his moves
to escalate tariffs during his first-term trade wars with Beijing until serious trade negotiations took place between the world&s two
largest economies.Dean Cheng, senior adviser at the United States Institute of Peace, said the rising tariffs were part of a broad push by
Trump to respond to Chinese challenges that also included the State Department&s removal of wording about not supporting Taiwan independence
to tougher scrutiny of United States -listed Chinese companies.It&s all the pieces on the chessboard,& he said.The Chinese embassy had no
immediate comment.Thus far, Chinese President Xi Jinping has not engaged in negotiations over fentanyl, instead applying limited 10%
retaliatory duties on United States energy and farm equipment.But Beijing could push back harder as Trump&s new tariffs reach 20% on United
States imports from China, on top of existing duties of up to 25% imposed during Trump&s first term
United States imports from China totaled $439 billion last year, according to United States Census Bureau data.Piling on more tariffs
could pose risks to both the Chinese and United States economies
China has been struggling with a property crisis and weak domestic demand, while United States inflation remains sticky and interest rates
are elevated.China, in a letter to United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, called for equal dialogue and consultation.Trump has
targeted early April for implementing broader &reciprocal tariffs& to match the import duty rates of other countries and offset their other
restrictions.During a news conference on Thursday, Trump downplayed the potential inflationary impact of tariffs for Americans, arguing that
his first-term tariffs on China raised hundreds of billions of dollars without negatively affecting the United States economy.I find that
And the inflation for us has not existed, and I don''t think it&s going to exist,& he said.TARIFF, BORDER TALKSCanadian and Mexican
officials were due to meet with Trump administration counterparts in Washington on Thursday and Friday to try to forestall the tariffs,
which could deal a serious blow to a highly integrated North American economy.Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard will meet with Greer
on Thursday and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday.Ebrard&s deputy, Vidal Llerenas, on Thursday said Mexico could adopt other trade
measures beyond the recent tariffs it imposed on certain imports to reduce cheap shipments from China.In Canada, Public Safety Minister
David McGuinty said on Thursday that the progress Canada has made on tightening security along the border with the United States and
combating drug smuggling should satisfy the Trump administration.The evidence is irrefutable & progress is being made,& McGuinty said in
televised remarks to reporters in Washington ahead of two days of talks with United States officials.In my view, any test that was put on
Canada in terms of showing progress and meeting standards for the border & I believe those have been met,& he said.The Canada Border
Services Agency said in a statement that it was launching a targeted, cross-country initiative to intercept illegal contraband arriving and
leaving the country, with a focus on fentanyl and other synthetic narcotics.The post Trump vows March 4 tariffs for Mexico, Canada, extra
10% for China over fentanyl first appeared on Ariana News.
