Search
AI-powered search, human-powered content.
scroll to top arrow or icon

{{ subpage.title }}

People gather for the "Elbows up" rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on March 9, 2025.

REUTERS/Amber Bracken

China, Mexico, and Canada take different paths to tackle tariffs

On March 4, 2025, US President Donald Trumpincreased tariffs on Chinese imports from 10% to 20%. The same day, the US imposed a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico. Two days later, Trump announced that goods and services covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, aka USMCA, would be exempt until April 2, when reciprocal tariffs are set to take effect against all countries around the globe. Canadian energy and potash remain tariffed at 10%, while its steel and aluminum are tariffed at 25%.

Faced with these realities, Mexico, China, and Canada are pursuing very different strategies. What’s working, what’s not, and what’s next?

Read moreShow less

Ontario Premier Doug Ford prepares to speak to an American news outlet in his office at the Queens Park Legislature in Toronto on Monday, March 10, 2025.

Chris Young/The Canadian Press via ZUMA Press via Reuters

Canada and US to discuss renewed USMCA following tariff de-escalation

In a major development on Tuesday, Ontario, Canada, suspended its 25% surcharge on exports of electricity to Michigan, New York, and Minnesota. Premier Doug Ford also said that he, US Secretary of CommerceHoward Lutnick, and the United States Trade Representative will meet on March 13 to discuss a renewed USMCA ahead of the April 2 reciprocal tariff deadline. Ford announced the move on X and indicated that he and Lutnick had a “productive conversation about the economic relationship between the United States and Canada.”

The announcement followed US President Donald Trump’s threat Tuesday morning that tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports would increase from 25% to 50% starting March 12. Trump said he would declare a “national emergency” in the three states and posted to Truth Social, “Why would our Country allow another Country to supply us with electricity, even for a small area? Who made these decisions, and why? And can you imagine Canada stooping so low as to use ELECTRICITY, that so affects the life of innocent people, as a bargaining chip and threat?”

In response to Ford’s suspending the electricity surcharges from Ontario, Trump reversed course late Tuesday, revoking his imposition of the additional 25% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. But the planned 25% tariff on the industry will still go into effect on Wednesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (not pictured) at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 27, 2025.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Trump’s tariffs back on, until they’re not

US President Donald Trump announced Thursday thata 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian goods will take effect on March 4, reversing comments made one day earlier that suggesteda delay until April.

Why the change? Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnicksaid last month that if the two countries made progress on border security, there could be room for negotiation. But Trump claims drugs are still “pouring into our country”and added, “We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA.” He also blamed China for the flow of fentanyl and announced that he would add an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods on the same date.

Read moreShow less

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum holds a press conference in Mexico City, Mexico February 3, 2025.

REUTERS/Raquel Cunha

Trump strikes last-minute tariff deal with Mexico and Canada – but not China

With hours to spare, President Donald Trump hit pause on a North American trade war, reaching agreements with both Mexico and Canada to delay the imposition of 25% tariffs that had businesses and markets sweating.

Read moreShow less
- YouTube

Why is Trump starting a trade war with Canada?

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: A Quick Take on the US-Canada relationship, which, right now, is on ice. And I don't mean the hockey kind. Trump, the tariff-man, cometh. Some 25% across the board on Canada, on Mexico too, except on Canadian oil, that's only 10%. Why? Why 10% on oil? Because that's actually what makes up Canada's surplus with the United States. So, wouldn't you actually hit that sector harder if you were trying to balance the budget? And the answer is, of course, no. That's like saying Canada's a friend and China's an enemy, and so wouldn't you hit the Chinese harder than the Canadians instead of the Chinese only 10%, the Canadians 25%, Mexico 25%, but that's also not the case. Why? Because China can cause a lot more damage to the United States. And so therefore, President Trump has to be more careful. Canada, Mexico, a lot smaller, much easier to punch down against the Canadians, even if it's technically punching up, given where they sit geographically. And except for oil, where the United States gets 4 million barrels a day, which is much more than the US gets from the rest of the world combined. And that quality of crude, only replaceable in terms of the kind of crude it is from Venezuela with massive sanctions and run by a dictator, and they've destroyed much of their own oil sector, so that's not a capability, which means that the Canadians can't send it anywhere else, the Americans can't buy it anywhere else, but the US is more powerful, so Trump thinks he can get away with it.

Read moreShow less

Scott Bessent, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's secretary of treasury.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

Trump vs. the Treasury on tariffs

Is US President Donald Trump already at odds with his cabinet picks? Rather than impose high tariffs on select countries all at once, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has suggested that Washingtonlevy universal 2.5% tariffs on all US imports and gradually raise them, giving businesses time to adjust and countries time to negotiate.

Read moreShow less

President Donald Trump makes a special address remotely during the 55th annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23, 2025.

REUTERS/Yves Herman

The Big Tar-iffs: Will he or won’t he start a trade war?


The big Trump tar-“iff” now has a when: Feb. 1.

That’s when the busy new US president has promised to slap 25% tariffs on both Canada and Mexico. In his virtual address to the folks attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, President Donald Trump again singled out Canada for harsh treatment. “We have a tremendous deficit with Canada,” he said, reiterating his usual inaccurate tariff mantra. Trump claims the trade deficit is between US$200 and US$250 billion a year when it is significantly less than half of that, mainly due to energy exports.

Read moreShow less

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the White House.

Fortune via Reuters

Trump uses uncertainty on tariffs for leverage

Canada and Mexico are preparing for a crushing economic blow after President Donald Trumpsaid Monday that he was “thinking in terms” of imposing 25% tariffs on both countries on Feb. 1, but that date may not be the one to watch.
Read moreShow less

Subscribe to our free newsletter, GZERO Daily

Latest