Business leaders on the border brace for Trump’s tariffs starting Saturday
JUAREZ, Chihuahua (KVIA) -- President Trump's tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China are set to be imposed tomorrow. Today, the White House confirmed they will take effect Saturday as announced a few days ago.
These tariffs will force U.S. companies buying foreign imports to pay a percentage extra to the U.S.
Many economists say this typically leads to higher consumer prices and could affect the prices of all sorts of goods.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo argues that won't happen. President Trump has also said he's imposing them because of the high number of migrants who have crossed illegally into the U.S. and fentanyl smuggling.
"A lot of fentanyl comes through Canada, and China makes the fentanyl. You know, China makes the fentanyl, gives it to Mexico, puts it through Canada, puts it through different different places, mostly Mexico, but also a lot throughout Canada. And so all three have been treated us very well," President Trump said.
The price impact on some of these goods remains unclear, however, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says this will not impact U.S. consumers' economy.
"I think Americans who are concerned about increased prices should look at what President Trump did in his first term. He effectively implemented tariffs, and the average inflation rate during the first Trump administration was 1.9%. When President Trump left office, it was 1.4%," Leavitt said.
ABC-7 spoke with Jesús Manuel "Thor" Salayandía, the coordinator of the Border Business Block who said over 46,000 thousand maquiladora jobs have been lost in Juárez in the last 18 months. And over 100,000 in the whole border strip.
"Yes, we see a very complicated situation, with a lot of uncertainty, with many things up in the air. We have no information beyond what was announced," said coordinator Salayandía
"There is a lot of concern, a lot of alertness because the fact that they put tariffs on you means that your cost is going to increase more. So we don't know what they (U.S. and Mexico) are negotiating, we don't know how it is going to be applied, for what products they are being exported is that tariff specifically, we don't know, it's an unknown," Salayandía added.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum also said today, that they have a plan "A, B and C" for whatever the U.S. government decides to do with these tariffs.
According to her, both Mexico and the U.S. continue to be in talks, and coordination with immigration, public safety, and trade on the border.
