Trump now says tariffs on Canada, Mexico will kick in March 4

President Donald Trump said Thursday he plans to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting Tuesday, after suggesting Wednesday that he planned to delay them until April 2. 

Trump, in a Truth Social post, also said he was doubling the 10% universal tariff charged on imports from China.

Trump in the post repeated his rational for the tariffs – that illicit drugs such as fentanyl are being smuggled into the United States at its Canada and Mexico border at “unacceptable levels” and that import taxes would force other countries to crackdown on the trafficking.

“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled,” Trump wrote in the post. “China will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date.”

On Wednesday, when asked at a televised cabinet meeting about the tariffs Trump said, “April 2nd for everything.”