President Trump addressed one of the elephants in the room during his Tuesday address to the joint session of Congress for this speech — tariffs.
Acknowledging the economic repercussions of his tariffs, the president said Americans will have to “bear with” him through an “adjustment period.”
He also reiterated that he will announce a sweeping agriculture tariff to take effect April 2.
“The tariffs will go on agricultural products coming into America and our farmers, starting on April 2. It may be a little bit of an adjustment period. We had that before, when I made the deal with China, $50 billion of purchases, and I said, ‘just bear with me.’ And they did. They did.
“You probably have to bear with me again, and this will be even better.”
“The tariffs will go on agricultural products coming into America and our farmers, starting on April 2. It may be a little bit of an adjustment period. We had that before, when I made the deal with China, $50 billion of purchases, and I said, ‘just bear with me.’ And they did. They did.
Overnight, the Trump administration imposed steep 25% across-the-board tariffs on Mexico and Canada, with a Canadian energy subject to a lower, 10% rate.
Trump also doubled the tariff on China to 20%, targeting all three countries for not doing more to help the US counter the fentanyl crisis.
The 47th president had first threatened to lodge the hefty tariffs against America’s three largest trading partners last November.
The tariffs were initially supposed to go into effect last month, but Trump opted to delay them, citing progress in negotiations with those three countries.
The tariffs affect roughly $1.5 trillion worth of annual imports, and all three countries have announced retaliatory tariffs in response.
“Whatever they tariff us, we tariff them. Whatever they tax us, we tax them,” Trump declared during his address to Congress.
“If they do non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we do non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market. We will take in trillions of dollars and create jobs like we have never seen before.”
During his wide-ranging address, Trump also promised “dramatic and immediate relief to working families” despite recognizing the “adjustment period” from his tariffs.
Democrats jeered during parts of Trump’s speech when he discussed his economic policies.
Earlier in the day, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed that the president will “probably” unveil deals with Canada and Mexico soon, possibly by Wednesday.
