Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said if President Donald Trump levies 25% tariffs on goods from Canada, his country could impose counter-tariffs on U.S. imports.
“I support the principle of dollar-for-dollar matching tariffs. It’s something that we are absolutely going to be looking at if that is how they move forward,” Trudeau said at a news conference in Quebec on Tuesday, according to Global News.
On Monday, Trump said he would impose 25% tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada starting Feb. 1.
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters he is considering hitting China with an additional 10% tariff on certain goods for shipping fentanyl to the U.S., while also threatening the European Union with tariffs over the U.S. trade deficit with countries in Europe.
Trump used his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday to threaten tariffs on Russia if Vladimir Putin does not end the Ukraine war.
Here is a rundown of Trump’s tariff threats toward each country and their response so far.
Canada
Trump said during an interview with the media in the Oval Office that he is considering a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico, the top two U.S. trading partners.
“We are thinking in terms of 25% on Mexico and Canada because they’re allowing vast numbers of people to come in and fentanyl to come in,” Trump said. “I think we’ll do it Feb. 1.”
Trudeau said he is prepared to launch counter-tariffs if Trump makes good on his threats but that he would rather work with U.S. officials to avoid a trade war.
“We know that if the United States is going to see an increase in jobs, manufacturing and economic growth, they’re going to require more energy, more inputs, everything from lumber and concrete to steel and aluminum, to critical minerals that are the essential ingredients in the economy of the future,” Trudeau said during the same Quebec news conference. “Canada has all that in an extraordinarily reliable and close partner.”
Other Canadian officials think a trade war involving tariffs between Canada and the U.S. is inevitable.
“[Trump] declared an economic war on Canada,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And we are going to use every tool in our tool box to defend our economy.”
Mexico
Along with Canada, Trump has said he would impose 25% tariffs on goods entering the U.S. from Mexico to slow illegal migration and drugs coming across the border.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said officials need to keep “cool heads” in response to Trump’s tariff threats.
She also said tariffs would violate the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade pact that was signed by Trump in 2020.
“We are already in communication … to start bilateral talks, which are essential, especially with the arrival of President Trump, to establish all communication, respectful dialogue between our countries. That is why I say we must remain calm and have a cool head, acting step by step. So, at this moment, what President Donald Trump signed is that the trade agreement continues, and they open consultations for the review that will be done in 2026,” Sheibaum said during her regular morning news conference on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente spoke with new U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio about migration and other issues, according to Reuters.
“The conversations have already begun. It was a very good conversation, very cordial,” Sheinbaum said about the meeting between Rubio and de la Fuente during her Wednesday news conference.
China
During his first term as president, Trump imposed tariffs on thousands of China-made products valued at $380 billion in 2018 and 2019, according to The Tax Foundation, a nonprofit tax policy think tank.
In response, China imposed retaliatory tariffs on many U.S. exports, including a wide range of agricultural and food products.
The Biden administration kept most of the Trump administration’s tariffs on China in place. In May, Biden announced tariff increases on an additional $18 billion of Chinese goods, including semiconductors and electric vehicles.
Now Trump is threatening to impose an additional 10% tariff on all Chinese goods entering the U.S.
“We’re talking about a tariff of 10% on China based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada,” Trump told reporters at a news conference Wednesday at the White House.
Officials in China have not directly addressed Trump’s new tariff threats but said there are “no winners” in a global trade war.
“Admittedly, economic globalization will bring some tensions and disagreements on distribution. These issues can only be resolved in the process of promoting economic globalization. Protectionism leads nowhere,” Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang said Tuesday during a public speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “Trade war has no winners. We must seize all opportunities to steer economic globalization in the right direction, tackle the development challenges with universal benefit, and pool strengths with inclusive cooperation, so as to usher in a new phase of economic globalization that is more dynamic, more inclusive and more sustainable.”
While the Trump administration discusses new tariffs against, freight from China to the U.S. has been surging in recent months.
As of Jan. 22, the SONAR Inbound Ocean TEUs Volume Index shows that import container bookings from China to the U.S. (IOTI.CHNUSA) are up 14% week-over-week, 25% compared to 2023 and 1% compared to the same period in 2024.
European Union
Trump told reporters Tuesday he is considering tariffs against the European Union because the bloc of nations is not importing enough U.S. goods.
The EU is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe.
“They treat us very, very badly. So they’re going to be in for tariffs,” Trump said. “You can’t get fairness unless you do that.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Europe is ready to “protect our interests.
“Our first priority will be to engage early, discuss common interests and be ready to negotiate. We will be pragmatic, but we will always stand by our principles,” von der Leyen said Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, according to Le Monde. “To protect our interests and uphold our values – that is the European way.”
Russia
Trump threatened to levy new tariffs on Russia if the country does not agree to a deal to end its war in Ukraine soon.
In February 2022, Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine with the aim of toppling the government of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,” Trump posted Wednesday on Truth Social.
In March 2022, the Biden administration ordered a ban on imports of oil, gas and coal from Russia to the U.S.
Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N. Dmitry Polyansky told Reuters his country is open to negotiations with Trump and Zelenskyy.
“So we have to see what does the ‘deal’ mean in President Trump’s understanding. He is not responsible for what the U.S. has been doing in Ukraine since 2014, making it ‘anti-Russia’ and preparing for the war with us, but it is in his power now to stop this malicious policy,” Polyansky said.