U.S. president-elect Donald Trump says he'll sign executive orders to place tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Triple I Ventures Llc/Dreamstime.com

By Eli J. Ridder

ECONOMY

Trump vows 25% U.S. tariff on products from Canada, Mexico

Nov 25, 2024 | 5:12 PM

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump said Monday he’ll sign an executive order imposing a 25 per cent tariff on all products coming into the United States from Canada and Mexico, with potentially seismic effects for Canadian industries.

Trump said the tariffs would remain in place until the two countries clamp down on drugs and migrants crossing the border illegally into the U.S.

“As everyone is aware, thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before,” Trump wrote in a post to his social media platform.

“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”

So far in fiscal year 2024, U.S. Border Patrol agents have taken into custody 16,500 migrants who crossed the U.S.-Canada border illegally, up from 10,000 in 2023 and just 2,200 in 2022, according to U.S. statistics.

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The 2024 number is the highest Border Patrol apprehension tally along the northern border on record.

There’s been many border crossings from the U.S. into Canada, too, in recent years. After Trump took power in 2017, there was a surge in crossings, particularly at Roxham Road in Quebec, Canadian statistics show.

Trump said Canada and Mexico have the power to stop the problem and until they take action they will pay a big price.

Trump campaigned on the promise to slap an across-the-board tariff on all imports.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce report suggesting a 10 per cent tariff could take a $30-billion bite out of the Canadian economy.

The City of Medicine Hat’s economic development division director Selena McLean-Moore said her department has a role in supporting local exporters as a facilitator.

“That means that what we have to do is we have to support them to diversify their markets,” McLean-Moore said.

“The ones that are, you know, strictly exporting to the US, which we have a lot of them, we need to be able to support them in finding other markets to be able to ship their product to.”

— with files from the Canadian Press