Import Tariffs To Further Impoverish Americans

The Trump administration started quite a few ingenuous gambits against Americans, as I informed my readers about MAGA, DOGE, and ICE-ing America:

This time, with the tariff scheme coming alive, the administration’s Canadian usurping counterparts are pals in the game, and Mexico must also play along.

What’s ingenuous about it?

People in both countries are told to blame the other country, while it is THEY who must cover all costs and suffer all the damages. These sock puppet “politicians” are just about as sophisticated as toddlers in a sandbox.

The “import tariff” is not alone, but it’s one of the important ones. While they were introduced against Mexico, too, a cursory look at Canada allows for drawing all necessary conclusions.

Avalara.com provides the following details:

What you need to know about the US-Canada trade war

President Donald J. Trump first announced new tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China on January 31, 2025. Since then, U.S.-Canada tariffs have been announced, delayed, implemented, paused, changed (and repeat). For affected businesses, this has a tremendous impact on compliance.

The U.S. imposed additional duty rates on “goods that are the product of Canada entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption,” on or after 12:01 a.m. ET on March 4, 2025.

Per U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) guidance, the new tariffs affect the following Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States classifications (HTSUS codes, or simply HTS codes):

• 9903.01.10: A 25% additional ad valorem rate of duty on all imports of articles that are products of Canada except:

  • Products classifiable under headings 9903.01.11, 9903.01.12, and 9903.01.13

  • Products for personal use in accompanied baggage of persons arriving in the U.S.

• 9903.01.13: A 10% additional ad valorem rate of duty on imports of energy or energy resources of Canada, as defined in section 8 of Executive Order 14156 as crude oil, natural gas, lease condensates, natural gas liquids, refined petroleum products, uranium, coal, biofuels, geothermal heat, the kinetic movement of flowing water, and certain critical minerals

On March 5, President Trump paused the tariffs on automobiles from Canada and Mexico after meeting with the big three auto dealers (Stellantis, Ford, and General Motors). “There is a one-month exemption on any autos coming through USMCA,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, adding that reciprocal tariffs would still go into effect on April 2, 2025.

On March 6, the president paused the tariffs for Canadian products covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). He also lowered the additional tariff on potash from 25% to 10%. His executive order gives March 7 at 12:01 a.m. ET as the effective date of the exemption, but no expiration date. See guidance from CBP for more details.

President Trump made a similar announcement for Mexico on March 5. According to a White House official, the exemptions apply to approximately 50% of Mexican imports and 38% of Canadian imports; those numbers have been disputed.

With tensions mounting, Trump said on March 7 that the U.S. could soon impose reciprocal tariffs on Canadian dairy and lumber products. “We may do it as early as today, or we’ll wait till Monday or Tuesday,” he said from the Oval Office.

What is a “product of Canada”?

A “product of Canada” means at least 98% of the total direct costs of producing or manufacturing the item were incurred in Canada, and “the last substantial transformation of the good occurred in Canada,” according to the Government of Canada.

“Made in Canada” means between 51% and 98% of the total direct costs occurred in Canada, and the last substantial transformation of the good occurred in Canada. The “Made in Canada” label should be accompanied by an appropriate qualifying statement, such as “Made in Canada with imported parts.”

What are Canada’s retaliatory tariffs?

Canada immediately imposed 25% tariffs on $30 billion CAD in goods as of 12:01 a.m. ET, March 4, 2025. However, these new tariffs do not apply to U.S. goods that were in transit to Canada on March 4.

The Canadian government did not pause the retaliatory tariffs on March 6, when President Trump postponed many of the tariffs on Canada.

Canada's new tariffs apply to goods imported for commercial and personal purposes, even when exported from a country other than the U.S. In other words, affected goods originating in the U.S. are subject to the tariff even if shipped from another country.

Proof of origin must be submitted for all imported goods, barring certain exceptions.

For this first wave of tariffs, affected products include apparel and footwear, appliances, beer, coffee, cosmetics, orange juice, peanut butter, motorcycles, spirits, wine, and certain pulp and paper products.

The additional 25% tariff does not apply to goods classified under Chapter 98 of the Schedule to the Customs Tariff, except tariff items 9804.30, 98.25, 98.26, 9897.00.00, 9898.00.00 and 9899.00.00.

According to the Government of Canada, the additional 25% tariffs will remain in place until the U.S. eliminates its tariffs on sales of Canadian goods. Speaking on March 6, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada will stand firm until the U.S. eliminates the new tariffs on Canadian goods.

More retaliatory tariffs could follow

On March 4, Canada said it was preparing to impose further tariffs in 21 days, should the U.S. continue to apply its tariffs on Canadian imports.

On March 6, Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced that Canada would not proceed with the second wave of tariffs until April 2, “while we continue to work for the removal of all tariffs.”

A second round of tariffs would affect another $125 billion CAD worth of products, including:

• Beef and pork

• Dairy

• Fruits and vegetables

• Electric vehicles

• Electronics

• Steel and aluminum

• Trucks and buses

See the Department of Finance Canada for a list of Harmonized System (HS) codes that could be affected by additional tariffs.

https://www.avalara.com/blog/en/north-america/2025/03/canada-us-tariffs.html

SO, WHAT’S NEXT?

If you cherished any hope that Trump wants your best, that idea has now completely evaporated.

The very-much-intentional insanity comes with significant corolaries:

1. It’s a no-brainer to realize that sellers are not going to lower their prices, so these tariffs are nothing else but new taxes for each country’s residents, which seems to be the major motivation behind the scenes. The lion’s share of taxes go to the Federal Reserve as the interest on the “loan” of fiat money, conjured up from nowhere, to the grabberment at the taxpayer’s expense.

2. This will affect purchasing power, which is naught but hidden inflation and an immediate loss of living standards, which disproportionately harms low-income people.

3. What’s less obvious is that this way, people are conditioned to accept shortages. For example, Canada’s turning off electricity to three northern US states introduces the idea of energy shortages and conditions the population to such situations.

4. Exports must be redirected to countries without such tariffs, which will also increase prices everywhere.

5. Certain products might not be possible to price competitively, which will gravely affect production. In such cases, domestic prices will increase even for the domestic products.

6. International reactions are already happening, as Avalara presents:

Global reaction to U.S. tariffs

Canada isn’t alone in retaliating.

Starting March 10, 2025, China will impose tariffs on roughly $21 billion worth of U.S. agricultural products. A 10% tariff will apply to beef, dairy products, fruit, pork, seafood, sorghum, soybeans, and vegetables. A 15% tariff will affect products such as chicken, corn, cotton, and wheat.

Mexico said it would announce retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods on March 9.

The European Parliament in February said negotiation would be “the EU’s first likely course of action” should the U.S. raise tariffs on EU goods. Yet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said unjustified tariffs on the EU will not go unanswered. Counter tariffs on U.S. goods were mentioned, as was filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization and seeking reparations.

On March 4, the European Commission condemned the U.S. tariffs on Canada and Mexico but didn’t comment on the increased China tariffs.

This isn’t over. Trump intends to implement 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports as of March 12, and he may establish more tariffs on more countries. Furthermore, the de minimis exemption for Canada, Mexico, and China is set to end as soon as CBP can implement the necessary processes.

Businesses caught in the cross fire of this new trade war need to be able to comply with new import tax requirements, whatever they are.

So, “ask not what your country can do for you” has never been more relevant:

Whatever that entailed, is still around, and requires full compliance.