The Tariff Trade Fight Gets Underway

The newly ordered tariffs President Trump is imposing on Canada, Mexico, and China don't take effect until Tuesday, but all three nations already are firing back.

• Canada: It will impose a 25% tariff on a wide range of US products, including beer, wine, bourbon, and orange juice from Trump's home state of Florida, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, per Reuters. That matches the tariff Trump is imposing on Canada, though Canadian oil, natural gas, and electricity will be taxed at a lower 10%. "We don't want to be here," Trudeau said in a televised address. "We didn't ask for this." He warned that US consumers would feel the pinch.
• Mexico: It will also implement tariffs on US goods, with details to come. As with Canada, they will likely be "precision strikes" designed to inflict political pain on Trump and on states run by his supporters, reports the Wall Street Journal. President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected as "slander" Trump's assertion that the Mexican government is allied with drug cartels when it comes to the movement of fentanyl. (Trump blamed all three countries for the fentanyl surge in the US and says he wants to see measurable reductions in the amount getting into the country.

• China: Its response has been the most "cautious" of the three, with Beijing saying it will challenge the tariffs through the World Trade Organization, notes a New York Times analysis. China faces a 10% tariff, less than the 25% on both Mexico and Canada. Beijing is still in a difficult spot, however, writes Brian Bradsher, given that "vigorous retaliation risks starting a global trade war that could damage China more than the United States."
• Consumers: So what products are likely to get more expensive in the US? Everything from cherry tomatoes and maple syrup (from Canada), to Tonka trucks, sledgehammers, and smartphones (China), to tequila and avocados (Mexico), reports the Wall Street Journal. The Washington Post also has a comprehensive look at this, with tomatoes, T-shirts, crude oil, and cars mentioned up high in the piece.
• Automakers: Pretty much every automaker will be affected, reports the New York Times. However, General Motors will likely be hardest hit because it produces more vehicles in Mexico than other automakers (840,000 last year), including big sellers such as Chevy Equinox and Blazer SUVs, and the Silverado pickup.

(More tariffs stories.)