BY DAVID LAWDER AND ANDREA SHALAL
WASHINGTON- President Donald Trump said on Monday that tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports are “on time and on schedule” despite efforts by the countries to beef up border security and halt the flow of fentanyl into the US ahead of a March 4 deadline.
“The tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule,” Trump told a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. He had been asked whether Canada and Mexico had done enough to avoid the punishing 25 percent US duties.
Many had hoped the top two US trading partners could persuade Trump’s administration to further delay tariffs that would apply to over $918 billion worth of US imports from the two countries, from autos to energy. This could wreak havoc on the integrated North American economy, with the automotive sector hit particularly hard.
Trump did not specifically mention the March 4 deadline. He later referred to his desire for “reciprocal” tariffs to match the duty rates and offset the trade barriers of all countries, including France.
Trump and Macron did not publicly discuss another sticking point – digital services taxes imposed by France, Canada and other countries aimed at dominant US tech giants including Google, Facebook and Amazon.
On Friday, Trump ordered his administration to revive tariff investigations into countries that levy digital service taxes on US firms.
Canada and Mexico have taken steps to beef up border security, which bought them about a month’s reprieve from Trump’s earlier Feb. 1 deadline to impose the tariffs, based on a national emergency declaration.
Any further delay negotiated ahead of the deadline will keep the tariff threat in place at least until clear evidence emerges that Canadian and Mexican measures are working, said Dan Ujczo, a lawyer specializing in US Canada trade matters.
“There’s progress being made on the security front,” said Ujczo, senior counsel with Thompson Hine in Columbus, Ohio. “But it’s overly optimistic to think that those tariffs would be fully rescinded.”
The White House, US Trade Representative’s office and Commerce Department did not respond to requests for comment on negotiations expected this week ahead of the March 4 deadline.
Since Trump’s initial 25 percent tariff threat and imposition of a 10 percent duty on all Chinese imports, he has heaped on more tariff actions that could muddy the waters on border negotiations.
These include substantially raising tariffs on steel and aluminum to a flat 25 percent, rescinding longstanding exemptions for Canada and Mexico, the largest sources of US imports of the metals. These steep increases, which also extend to hundreds of downstream steel products, are due to take effect a week after the border tariffs, on March 12.
Trump has also said he wants to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports of autos, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, and to match duty rates and trade barriers of other countries.
