President Trump used a social media post to clear up confusion about his proposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada, saying they will go into effect on March 4, 2025. Trump originally indicated during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the Mexican and Canadian tariffs would take effect on April 2nd but later clarified in his social media post that he was referring to his proposed reciprocal tariffs, which will be “in full force and effect” on April 2, 2025. Trump also announced that next Tuesday he will impose an additional 10% tariff on imports from China because of its role in the fentanyl trade. This is in addition to the previous 10% tariff Trump placed on Chinese products earlier this month.
The announcement comes as the Trump Administration opened another front in its trade war on Tuesday, ordering the Commerce Department to initiate a Section 232 investigation of copper under the Trade Expansion Act to determine if the need new tariffs on copper imports to rebuild U.S. copper production critical to the power grid, electric vehicles, military hardware, and many consumer goods. A report is due to the President within nine months. This comes as new polling shows that while there is support for tariffs generally, Americans specifically oppose Trump’s threatened tariffs against U.S. neighbors Canada and Mexico. The latest consumer sentiment data confirms that Trump’s threatened tariffs are making both U.S. businesses and consumers anxious. On Wednesday, the Conference Board reported that U.S. consumer confidence had its biggest monthly decline in more than four years, plummeting to 98.3 from 105.3 in January—far below economists’ expectations of a reading of 103.