President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday repeated his threat to impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods from Mexico and Canada to pressure both countries to stop the flow of illegal immigration and cross-border fentanyl shipments.
“We’re going to put very serious tariffs on Mexico and Canada,” Trump said during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort, a little less than two weeks before he is sworn into office for a second term as president.
Trump also raised the U.S. trade deficit with Canada, complaining that, “they make 20 percent of our cars. We don’t need that. I’d rather make them in Detroit.”
“We don’t need anything they have,” he continued, singling out other key Canadian exports to the U.S., such as lumber and dairy.
The president-elect made similar complaints about the trade relationship with the European Union. “We have a trade deficit of $350 billion. They don’t take our cars, they don’t take our farm product, they don’t take anything. And so we’re not going to have it with them, either,” he said later in his remarks.
Top Canadian officials traveled down to Mar-a-Lago shortly after Christmas for discussion with Trump’s nominees to head the Commerce Department, Howard Lutnick, and the Interior Department, Doug Burgum.
That followed a dinner between Trump and outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in November, not long after Trump first made his tariff threat.
Trump’s proposed tariffs could hit more than $900 billion worth of goods from the two countries, including huge volumes of autos, auto parts and energy products. The two countries account for nearly one-third of U.S. goods imports, which totaled about $3.1 trillion last year.
Trump has joked — seemingly — about making Canada a 51st state. In response to a question, he ruled out doing that by military force, but he did suggest the possibility of using economic pressure to accomplish that outcome.
He did not, however, rule out the use of force in trying to claim Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, claiming it was in the United States’ national security interests to try and make the Arctic island a part of the country. Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., is currently in Greenland on a “private visit.”
The president-elect also threatened to “tariff Denmark at a very high level” if it does not cooperate with his bid to purchase the island. “People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do, they should give it up, because we need it for national security,” Trump said.
Trump’s proposed duties would violate commitments under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that was negotiated during his first term, although he could possibly justify the move under the agreement’s national security exception.
Trump has not specified how he plans to impose the new duties, although many have expected him to rely heavily on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to carry out many of his campaign tariff threats. That law gives the president broad authority to regulate U.S. commerce after declaring a national emergency.
Ari Hawkins contributed to this report.
