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Donald Trump ushered in an era of disruption for the global economy, threatening new tariffs against U.S. allies and taking steps to dismantle Joe Biden’s domestic and foreign agenda just hours after returning home White.
In numerous comments to reporters in the Oval Office Monday evening, Asset threatened to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on imports from Canada and Mexico as early as February 1, hitting the currencies of countries and pushing U.S. stock futures lower.
The new 47th US president also threatened to apply levies on Chinese imports tariffs of up to 100% if Beijing fails to agree on a deal to sell at least 50% of the TikTok app to an American company, as well as tariffs on European products unless they buy more American oil.
These comments and the shock to global markets served as yet another reminder of Trump’s desire to upend the global order and engage in high-stakes coercive negotiations to impose America’s will on its major trading partners.
The Oval Office remarks came just hours after Trump used his inaugural address to promise an end to America’s “decline” and the start of a new “the golden age” based on a dramatic reversal of the Biden administration’s progressive agenda.
The 78-year-old president quickly announced aggressive measures to boost fossil fuel production, deport immigrants and implement the populist, nationalist agenda that carried him to victory in the race for the White House last year. last.
He reversed dozens of Biden executive orders on everything from promoting racial equity and punishing extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank to strengthening Medicaid and promoting access to voting.
The sweeping overhaul included the United States once again withdrawing from the Paris climate pact and marked a statement of intent from the world’s most prominent right-wing politician, who was elected after promising to overturn the program of the Biden administration.
Trump also announced he would pardon those convicted of participating in the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, when his supporters stormed Congress to violently prevent the certification of the election victory of Biden in 2020.
The pardons for the rioters evoke the remarkable comeback of Trump himself, who won last year’s election despite becoming the first president to be convicted of a crime and after two assassination attempts against him.
Trump’s business bluster intensified as the day wore on. In his inaugural address, he suggested that the levies were his preferred tool in international economic diplomacy and that they would be essential to raising U.S. revenues, disregarding their potential to raise prices for American consumers. .
“Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will impose tariffs and taxes on foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” he said.
Trump said a plan to impose a universal tariff on all imports — a measure he touted during his campaign — remained on the table.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country would respond if Trump followed through with his threat to impose tariffs on the United States’ northern neighbor.
Trudeau told reporters Tuesday morning that Canada was providing “many of the necessary inputs that the U.S. economy will need” and was taking Trump’s proposals “seriously.”
“We will also remain firm and steadfast in our advocacy for this incredibly successful trade relationship,” Trudeau said.
Likewise, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday “we will defend our sovereignty” but that “it is always important to have a cool head and refer to decrees rather than speeches.”
Trump spoke in the Oval Office surrounded by key aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, policy chief Stephen Miller and Peter Navarro, his top White House adviser on trade and manufacturing policy.
Signaling that cracking down on immigration remained a domestic policy priority, Trump also signed a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and took steps to restrict citizenship rights for those born to undocumented immigrants on American soil.
“It’s a big deal. . . We are the only country in the world that does this under birthright,” he said, although dozens of other countries allow this right.
Trump’s decision will almost certainly be challenged in court for violating the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.
The president also asked the Pentagon to develop a plan to deploy troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump also designated drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Sending American special forces to Mexico to eliminate them “could happen.” Stranger things have happened,” he added.
Trump declined to say whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement would begin raids in major cities on Tuesday to arrest undocumented migrants. “I don’t want to say when, but it will happen, it has to happen, otherwise we won’t have a country.”
Among his foreign policy commitments, Trump said the United States would regain control of the Panama Canal and “build the most powerful military the world has ever seen,” while promising to end wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, saying he would be a “peacemaker.”
Additional reporting by Ilya Gridneff in Toronto