US President Donald Trump said Monday the United States is "on time" with tariffs on Canada and Mexico, as he repeated his claim that America has been "mistreated" and "taken advantage of" by its trading partners.
Trump made the remarks when asked whether tariffs would be imposed on Canadian and Mexican goods when a pause on their implementation ends next month. Early this month, Trump agreed to a 30-day pause after the two countries pledged to step up efforts to prevent drug trafficking at their borders with the US
"We are on time with the tariffs, and it seems like that's moving along very rapidly," he said during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House.
"We've been mistreated very badly by many countries, not just Canada and Mexico. We've been taken advantage of," he added.
Trump criticized trade agreements, which he said enabled trading partners to "take advantage of" Americans.
"Anybody that would agree to allow this to happen to our country should be ashamed of themselves. Now, the tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule," he said.
"This is an abuse that took place for many years, and I'm not even blaming the other countries that did this. I blame our leadership for allowing it to happen."
Trump has been using tariffs as a policy tool to address America's trade deficits, boost domestic manufacturing and achieve other policy goals, including preventing the inflow of undocumented migrants and drugs, such as fentanyl.
He has already announced a plan to start imposing 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports on March 12, and introduce "reciprocal" tariffs on US imports to match duties that other countries impose on US exports. His administration is also moving to roll out tariffs on cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.
"The tariffs will go forward ... All we want is reciprocal. We want reciprocity," he said. "We want to have the same so if somebody charges us, we charge them. It's very simple, but it'll be very good for our country." (Yonhap)
