UPDATED BELOW WITH AGREEMENTS MADE WITH CANADA AND MEXICO
The products you buy every day could cost a little more in the future after President Donald Trump followed through on his campaign promise on tariffs for Canada and Mexico in exchange for tougher border security.
Trump enacted the 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico on Saturday, saying on his TruthSocial account that the potential price hikes on some products “will all be worth the price that must be paid.” Canadian oil and gas and products from China are subject to a 10 percent tariff. “We’re not going to be the ‘stupid country’ any longer,” Trump added. “Make your product in the USA and there are no tariffs.” Canadian officials have responded with their own 25 percent tariffs on some products and have even started to take some American products like bourbon off the shelf.
Area legislators have offered their thoughts in the days since the tariffs were enacted, with their support falling along party lines. Republican Eighth District U.S. Rep. Tony Wied took to social media to express his support for the tariffs, saying he trusts Trump’s negotiating tactics and believes that "this course of action will ultimately save lives and strengthen our economy.”
Democratic U.S. Tammy Baldwin was not as complimentary, saying the tariffs would raise prices on Wisconsin families and hurt the state’s manufacturers and farmers. “If President Trump is going to impose these broad tariffs on our closest trading partners, he needs to do it with a real plan to address retaliation and make sure costs aren’t passed on to hardworking Wisconsinites,” Baldwin said in a statement over the weekend.
Since Saturday, the Mexican government has agreed to send soldiers to the border to ward off illegal drugs and migrants in exchange for a delay in enacting the tariffs for one month. The Canadian government agreed to implement its $1.3 billion border security that it announced in December in exchange for its own one month delay on tariffs. All three countries will negotiate a permanent deal over the coming weeks.
