Trump Tariffs On Canada, Mexico Delayed? All Details Here

US President Donald Trump in a broad trade memo issued on Monday suggested that tariff measures against Canada, China, and Mexico are off the table for some time. Much feared and talked about tariffs will not be imposed on the inauguration day as President Trump highlighted a raft of executive orders to be signed on day 1.

Trump while campaigning for the US election has promised to impose steep tariffs of 10% to 20% on global imports into the U.S., 60% on goods from China to help reduce the U.S. trade deficits that now top $1 trillion annually.

Tariffs on Day 1?

He said after his election in November that on his first day in office, he would sign the paperwork to impose an immediate 25% import surcharge on imports from Canada and Mexico if they failed to halt the flow of illegal migrants and illicit drugs into the U.S.

Such duties would tear up long-standing trade agreements threaten to upend supply chains and raise costs, according to trade experts.

The memo will single out China, Canada, and Mexico for scrutiny but will not announce new tariffs, the official said. It will direct agencies to assess Beijing's compliance with its 2020 trade deal with the U.S., as well as the status of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, the official said.

The U.S. dollar slumped broadly on the news against a basket of major trading partners' currencies, with particularly large upswings in the euro, Canadian dollar, Mexican peso and Chinese yuan. MSCI's measure of global stock markets rose. U.S. financial markets are closed for the Martin Luther King Day holiday.

Washington has been rife with speculation among industry groups in recent weeks on which tariffs Trump might impose immediately, including through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

With Reuter’s Inputs