President Trump’s tariffs are meeting stiff retaliation from the nation’s two largest trading partners, which are imposing tariffs on U.S. goods in a trade war that threatens to raise prices on all sides.
Canada and Mexico announced plans to counter their 25% tariffs. Meanwhile, China vowed to file a legal case against the U.S. at the World Trade Organization and threatened countermeasures to the 10% tariffs Mr. Trump imposed on all Chinese imports.
The tit-for-tat raised concerns that a trade war would force American families to pay high prices for gasoline, groceries, automobiles, electronics and toys. The fallout could increase inflation, undermining the president’s campaign promise to lower prices.
Mr. Trump said the tariffs, scheduled to go into effect Tuesday, could cause short-term pain.
He said the tariffs are needed to reduce U.S. trade deficits with Mexico, Canada and China and to force the three nations to do more to address illegal immigration and the trafficking of illicit drugs, especially fentanyl, into the U.S.
“The ‘Tariff Lobby,’ headed by the Globalist, and always wrong, Wall Street Journal, is working hard to justify Countries like Canada, Mexico, China, and too many others to name, continue the decades long ripoff of America, both with regard to trade, crime, and poisonous drugs that are allowed to so freely flow into America,” Mr. Trump said Sunday in a social media post laced with all-capital-letter words. “Those days are over!”
He continued in all capital letters: “Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!). But we will Make America Great Again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid.”
Returning to Washington from Florida on Sunday night, Mr. Trump spoke with reporters at Joint Base Andrews.
Mr. Trump said that if the three countries do not help the U.S. get a better handle on the illegal migrants and drugs coming across the border, “the tariffs are going to get worse — a lot worse.”
He also threatened a broader trade war, telling reporters that tariffs against the European Union would “definitely happen” and could be aimed at the United Kingdom.
Even before the threats against Europe, The Wall Street Journal said the Trump administration is leading the U.S. into the “dumbest trade war in history.”
“Maybe Mr. Trump will claim victory and pull back if he wins some token concessions,” they said. “But if a North American trade war persists, it will qualify as one of the dumbest in history.”
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Mr. Trump’s three targets accounted for 41% of U.S. foreign trade as of November, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Mexico was the top trading partner at $776 billion, or 15.9%, followed by Canada at $699 billion, or 14.3%, and China at $532 billion, or 10.9%.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the tariffs violated the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that Mr. Trump negotiated in 2000 to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1992.
Mr. Trudeau announced more than $100 billion in retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. He said it would hurt Canadians but “have real consequences for you, the American people … at the grocery store, gas at the pump.”
On Sunday, he urged Canadians to “choose products made right here in Canada.”
“Check the labels,” he said. “Let’s do our part.”
Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman said Canadians are “confused” because they have invested more than $1 billion in border security.
“It is hard to know what more we can do, but we are obviously open to any other suggestions that come our way,” Ms. Hillman said on ABC’s “This Week.” “This is not a path we are interested in going down.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum ordered retaliatory tariffs and “non-tariff measures” against the U.S. She took issue with Mr. Trump’s claim that drug cartels have an “intolerable alliance with the government of Mexico.”
“We categorically reject the White House’s slander against the Mexican government of having alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any intention of intervention in our territory,” Ms. Sheinbaum said on social media. “If such an alliance exists anywhere, it is in the United States armories that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups, as demonstrated by the United States Department of Justice itself in January of this year.”
The retaliation threats didn’t faze Mr. Trump.
“If they want to play the game, I don’t mind. We can play the game all they want,” he said Sunday night, adding that he will speak Monday with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the tariffs violate international trade agreements and won’t solve U.S. domestic problems.
“China is one of the world’s toughest countries both in terms of policy and its implementation,” a ministry spokesman said in a statement. “Fentanyl is an issue for the U.S. [and] in the spirit of humanity and goodwill, China has given support to the U.S.’s response to this issue.”
Mr. Trump imposed tariffs on China during his first term, and President Biden kept many of them in place. Mr. Trump announced the additional 10% because of lingering concerns about precursor chemicals that Chinese factories send to Mexico, where cartels manufacture fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that is killing Americans.
In Washington, the reaction fell along partisan lines.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, said the tariffs against the largest U.S. trading partners are “designed to get these countries to change their behavior.”
He said Mexico and China could likely avoid the 25% and 10% tariffs if they address Mr. Trump’s border concerns.
“If you want tariffs to go away Mexico and China, stop poisoning Americans, stop sending fentanyl into America to kill Americans,” Mr. Graham said on “Fox News Sunday.” “If you want to have a better relationship, Mexico, with the United States, do your part on the other side of the border.”
Sen. Mark Kelly, Arizona Democrat, said Americans will feel the financial pinch from the tariffs.
“It will raise prices for American consumers,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “They’re going to see prices go up for food, for energy, for electronics … for autos.”
“This is not the way to handle this,” Mr. Kelly said.
• Mike Glenn and Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this report.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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