Trump says Canada, Mexico -Zölle despite the border, fentanyl efforts

President Donald Trump said on Monday that the tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports are “on time and on schedule”, although the federal states increase border security and set the fentine river to the USA before a period on March 4.

“The tariffs are correct on time on schedule,” Trump said a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. He was asked whether Canada and Mexico had done enough to avoid the punishment of 25% US duties.

Many had hoped that the two best US trade partners could persuade Trump's management to further delay the tariffs that would apply to US imports worth over 918 billion US dollars from the two countries, from cars to energy. This could mess up the integrated North American economy, whereby the vehicle sector is particularly hard.

Trump did not expressly mention the deadline on March 4. Later he referred to his desire for “mutual” tariffs to meet the service rates and to compensate for the trade barriers of all countries, including France.

Trump and Macron did not publicly discuss another sticking point -digital service taxes from France, Canada and other countries that are aimed at dominant US tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Amazon.

On Friday, Trump ordered his administration to revive tariff examinations to countries that raise digital service taxes on US companies.

Border hopes doubled

Canada and Mexico have taken steps to improve border security that Trump's period of Trump bought them for about a month on February 1st to impose the tariffs based on a national emergency declaration.

Any further delay that is negotiated before the deadline will at least keep the risk of tariffs to clear proof that Canadian and Mexican measures work, said Dan Ujczo, a lawyer who specializes in trade questions in the USA-Canada.

“Progress is made on the security front,” said Ujczo, Senior Counsel with Thompson Hine in Columbus, Ohio. “But it is excessively optimistic to believe that these tariffs are fully lifted.”

The office and trade department of the White House, the US sales representative, did not respond to inquiries about comments that had expected negotiations this week before the deadline on March 4.

Further tariff threats

Since Trump's initial threat to tariffs of 25% and the introduction of a 10% compulsory mandatory for all Chinese imports for more tariff campaigns that could rejuvenate the waters in border negotiations.

This includes significant increase in tariffs to steel and aluminum to 25%, the long -term exceptions for Canada and Mexico, the largest sources of the US imports of metals. These steep increases, which also extend to hundreds of downstream steel products, will come into force on March 12 a week after the border tariffs.

Trump also said that he wanted to impose 25% tariffs for the imports of cars, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, as well as the submission of service rates and trade barriers from other countries.

The endangered tariffs could introduce an early introduction of a renegotiation of the US Mexico Canada Agreement via trade, which is due by 2026, added Ujczo.

Trump signed the USMCA in 2020 after he had negotiated the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, but increasingly expressed dissatisfaction with the imports of cars from Mexico and Canada.

Progress cited

On Thursday, Mexican Economic Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Thursday that he had a “constructive dialogue” during a meeting with Trump's top trade officer.

In a post on X, Ebrard said that the “joint work” of US trade matters begins on Monday.

Mexico has started to use up to 10,000 troops of the National Guard on its northern border, as part of the agreement that the Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also asked the USA to stop the flow of firearms to Mexico.

Canada created a new fentanyl tender this month to coordinate the fight against the smuggling of the deadly opioid and to appoint Senior Intelligence officials Kevin Brosseu for posting.

Ottawa has also coped with drug cartels as terrorist units and used drones, helicopters and other surveillance technologies on the huge border of the northern US border.

The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has kept in close contact with Trump in the past few days, including a Saturday that contained discussions about joint efforts to contain fentanyl trade. He threatened retaliatory tariffs for 107 billion US dollars of US dollar, including American beer, wine and bourbon and florida orange juice, but said Last week that Canada “did the job” to ensure that tariffs are not imposed.