Over the past few days, President Donald Trump announced, implemented and reversed some of his tariff threats for Canada, Mexico and China — leading to uncertainty and whiplash on both Wall Street and Main Street.
Catch up on everything that happened here:
March 4: Trump’s blanket 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada took effect on Tuesday. The president also doubled the tariff on all Chinese imports to 20% from 10%. The Trump administration said the tariffs were necessary to stem the flow of fentanyl into the United States. China and Canada immediately retaliated with tariffs on American goods, threatening to ignite a damaging trade war. Mexico said it would announce retaliatory measures Sunday.
March 5: A day later, Trump granted an exemption on auto tariffs on Mexico and Canada for one month. After speaking with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, Trump said he agreed to a reprieve to ensure America’s Big Three automakers aren’t harmed financially.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the automakers should use the monthlong reprieve to work toward the president’s goals of bringing America’s auto production back to the United States — an unlikely scenario, because that would require massive hiring, investment and strategic planning.
March 6: Trump then on Thursday signed executive actions that delayed tariffs on all products from Mexico and Canada that are covered by the USMCA free trade treaty until April 2. The USMCA is the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, negotiated by Trump during his first term. The executive actions followed a discussion Trump held Thursday with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and negotiations between Canadian and US officials. Sheinbaum also said Thursday that, with the pause in effect, she would not announce the previously planned retaliatory tariffs.
Trump continued to sharply criticized Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Canada said it would pause its planned second round of tariffs on over 4,000 US goods until April 2.
March 7: But on Friday, Trump threatened new tariffs on Canadian lumber and dairy products.
“Canada has been ripping us off for years on lumber and on dairy products,” Trump said in Oval Office remarks Friday, citing Canada’s roughly 250% tariff on US dairy exports to the country. Trump said America would match those tariffs dollar-for-dollar.
“We may do it as early as today, or we’ll wait until Monday or Tuesday,” Trump said, adding that more “changes and adjustments” on tariffs should be expected.
