U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that his threatened tariffs against Canada and Mexico are going ahead as per schedule and are set to hit both countries next week.
“The proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled. China will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social on Thursday morning.
Trump reiterated his claim that these tariffs were linked to the flow of fentanyl and migrants into the U.S. from both countries.
According to Canadian federal data, less than one per cent of the fentanyl entering the U.S. comes from Canada.
Data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency shows that in January, fentanyl seizures at the Canada-U.S. border dropped to its lowest levels since 2023, with less than 14 grams seized during the month. Over 19 kilograms of fentanyl from Canada were apprehended in the last fiscal year.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and cabinet ministers have said fentanyl seizures at the border have dropped 90 per cent over the past month, something the White House highlighted in a readout of Trump’s call with Trudeau last weekend.
But Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer later on Thursday that Canada hasn’t made progress on stopping fentanyl “at all.”
“They should be apprehending much more,” he told reporters. “As Mexico gets stronger in terms of the border, (the fentanyl) goes up to Canada and a lot of drugs are coming in through Canada. We can’t have that.”
Trudeau told reporters in Montreal on Thursday that Canadian ministers and heads of agencies — including the commissioner of the RCMP, the head of the CBSA and Canada’s new fentanyl czar — will be in Washington, D.C. this week to demonstrate that Canada is working to curb the flow of illegal substances through the border.
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Trudeau said Canada would “do everything necessary to avoid these tariffs coming in.”
However, he added, “If, on Tuesday, there are unjustified tariffs brought in on Canada, we will have an immediate and extremely strong response — as Canadians expect.”
A recent Criminal Intelligence Service Canada report said organized crime groups involved in manufacturing fentanyl are growing their operations in Ontario and British Columbia. Many are connected to Latin American drug cartels to facilitate transnational drug trafficking, according to the report.
Canadian law enforcement agencies have cracked down on domestic drug labs in recent months as part of their efforts to combat fentanyl and strengthen border security.
In his post, Trump referenced two separate sets of tariffs.
The first are the fentanyl-related 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which are set to hit on March 4. The second set of tariffs are reciprocal tariffs on all of America’s trading partners, which Trump said will go into effect on April 2.
He added that a second set of tariffs, the reciprocal tariffs on all of America’s trading partners who impose tariffs or a broad range of trade measures on the U.S. will also go ahead as per schedule.
The April 2 date for the second set of tariffs “will remain in full force and effect,” Trump said in his post.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had said during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that Canada and Mexico still have time to avoid the March 4 tariffs.
Trump has been threatening a broad-based tariff of 25 per cent on all goods from Canada and Mexico, two of America’s biggest trade partners.
These tariffs were originally scheduled to go into effect on Feb. 4.
However, after separate phone calls with Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Trump decided to pause the tariffs for a month. Trudeau and Sheinbaum announced their countries would be taking various actions on drug smuggling and migrants.
Trudeau said Canada would appoint a fentanyl czar, list cartels as terrorist organizations and increase border patrols to intercept migrants — all of which the government has announced since that 30-day pause was put in place.
Lutnick said, “At the end of that 30 days, they have to prove to the president that they’ve satisfied him to that regard. If they have, he’ll give them a pause or he won’t.”
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