President Trump said on Monday night that he planned to impose a 25 percent tariff on products from Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1 and might impose levies on most American imports, as he signed an executive order directing federal agencies to deliver a sweeping review of U.S. trade policies by this spring.
Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office on Monday evening, Mr. Trump said he was thinking of putting tariffs on Mexican and Canadian products because those nations were allowing “mass numbers of people to come in and fentanyl to come in.” Asked when he might put those in place, Mr. Trump said, “I think we’ll do it Feb. 1.”
Mr. Trump also said he “may” impose a universal tariff on all imports, saying that “essentially all countries take advantage of the U.S.”
The comments renewed the threat of an imminent trade war, just hours after such an outcome had appeared to recede. Mr. Trump signed an executive order on Monday directing various agencies to study a wide variety of trade issues with an eye toward future tariffs, but he did not impose any new levies immediately, as he had previously threatened.
Still, the executive order could tee up a variety of significant trade actions in the months to come. The order directed Mr. Trump’s officials to deliver reports to him, mostly by April 1, assessing unfair trade practices, currency manipulation, U.S. technology controls and discriminatory foreign taxes.
It ordered U.S. officials to examine flows of migrants and drugs from Canada, China and Mexico to the United States, and the compliance of those three countries and others with their existing trade agreements with the United States.