U.S. President Donald Trump said at the White House that if the fentanyl smuggling situation is not resolved, new tariffs may be imposed on China from February 1.
“China will be subject to a 10 percent tariff on fentanyl shipped to Mexico and Canada. We are looking at that, possibly, starting on February 1st,” Trump said.
Trump said additional tariffs on Mexico and Canada could be around 25%, and he may have made a mistake by referring to Canada as “China.”
The Wall Street Journal previously quoted sources as saying that Trump may visit China within 100 days of taking office. Before that, the Trump administration will obviously have dialogue with China but will not implement the decision to increase tariffs on China .
Trump proposed during his campaign to impose tariffs of at least 10% to 20% on all imported goods, and in November he threatened to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China if they did not do more to help secure the U.S. border and prevent the flow of undocumented immigration and illegal drugs.
Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said earlier that the essence of Sino-US economic and trade cooperation is mutual benefit and win-win. Maintaining the stable development of Sino-US economic and trade relations is in the fundamental interests of the two countries and their peoples, and is also conducive to the development of the global economy. China is willing to strengthen dialogue and communication with the United States in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, properly manage differences and expand mutually beneficial cooperation. China hopes that the United States will work with China to jointly promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of Sino-US economic and trade relations.
