White House says Canada has ‘misunderstood’ Trump’s tariff order, Mexico is ‘serious’

WASHINGTON – The White House on Feb 3 said it has noticed that Mexico is “serious” about US President Donald Trump’s executive order on tariffs, but Canada has “misunderstood” it to be a trade war between the neighbouring countries.

Mr Trump on Feb 1 ordered sweeping tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China, demanding that they stop

the flow of fentanyl

and illegal immigrants into the US, kicking off a trade war that could dent global growth and stoke inflation.

“The good news is that in our conversations over the weekend, one of the things we’ve noticed is that Mexicans are very, very serious about doing what President Trump said,” Mr Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House’s National Economic Council (NEC), said on CNBC.

“Canadians appear to have misunderstood the plain language of the executive order, and they’re interpreting it as a trade war,” Mr Hassett added.

When asked what Canada and Mexico must do to lift the 25 per cent tariffs that Mr Trump announced on Feb 1, the President told reporters on Feb 2 that they “have to balance out their trade, No. 1”.

Mr Trump, who announced an additional 10 per cent tariff on Chinese goods, said: “They’ve got to stop people from pouring into our country... they have to stop people pouring in, and we have to stop fentanyl. And that includes China.”

He added that the tariffs against the three largest US trading partners, which take effect on Feb 4, might cause Americans some short-term pain, but “long term, the United States has been ripped off by virtually every country in the world”.

Mr Trump also indicated on Feb 2 that the 27-nation European Union would be next in the firing line but did not say when.

Mr Hassett, when asked if Mr Trump’s policies will

create more inflation

, said one needs to look at all of the President's policies together. “I think this is going to be one of the biggest supply-side positive shocks that we’ve ever seen,” he said.

The NEC director also said Mr Trump will ultimately decide “what he’s going to call off and what he’s not” in terms of tariffs. REUTERS