Donald Trump will not impose new tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico on his first day in office, according to reports Reutershe Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
Instead, US media reports say the US president plans to issue an executive order that will direct federal agencies to investigate allegations of unfair trade and currency practices.
International Information has not independently confirmed those reports.
Trump, who took office on Monday, has promised tariffs of 10 percent on global imports, 60 percent on Chinese goods and 25 percent on Canadian and Mexican goods, tariffs that could disrupt trade flows, increase costs and provoke retaliation.
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Reuters reported that Trump’s executive will direct agencies to evaluate China’s compliance with its 2020 trade deal with the United States, as well as the status of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, Reuters reported.
John Bolton, who served as Trump’s adviser from April 2018 to September 2019, said in an interview with The west block Mercedes Stephenson that the president-elect’s threat poses a “serious danger that we will inadvertently fall into a trade war.”
“I think everyone should understand that a trade war benefits no one,” he said.
Shortly after being elected, Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on all Canadian goods entering the United States unless Canada beefed up border security. The same threat was also made towards Mexico.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly has said that if Trump goes ahead with the plan, it would start the “biggest trade war between Canada and the United States in decades.”
– With files from Reuters and Sean Previl of International Information
