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Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick appeared on Fox News Wednesday and warned neighboring countries that the U.S. is prepared to impose a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada unless they enhance border security measures and effectively interdict fentanyl.

In an interview on “Special Report with Bret Baier,” Lutnick said that despite a 30-day negotiation period provided to Mexico and Canada to demonstrate their commitment to these security measures, the likelihood of avoiding the tariffs remains slim. President Donald Trump’s ultimatum was clear, Lutnick said. Halt the trafficking of fentanyl and other harmful activities, or face significant economic consequences.

“The president’s on it. So here’s what he said, tariffs, if you don’t stop the fentanyl, you don’t stop killing Americans, I’m gonna slap a 25% tariff on you, and I’m gonna teach you a lesson,” Lutnick said. “So they immediately put their military on the border. They started stopping it. We’ll just see if they did a good job or not. We’ll see. But then April 2, it’s his turn to say what’s fairness, who’s treating us fairly and that’s the reciprocal terms.”

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“That’s reciprocal. How you treat us is how we’ll treat you. And doesn’t that sound sort of reasonable?”

Addressing the existing U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Lutnick criticized Canada for what he described as side-stepping the deal.

“So on April 2, when he says April 2, that’s the baseline tariff. That says how you treat us is how you get treated. So you think, OK, we have USMCA, right? So we’re supposed to have a free trade agreement with Canada, but they have a 5% national tax,” Lutnick told Baier. “They tax all our dairy products. They tax so many different things. Lumber. They tax our food. It’s outrageous. They basically cheat around the sides. Then when we don’t act, they stop cheating around the sides.”

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Lutnick also criticized the involvement of Chinese companies in the Mexican steel industry, which he sees as a direct threat to American interests.

“They cheat right down the middle. And the president is sick and tired of it. He’s sick and tired of the countries adjacent to us inviting in China to their model. Who does steel in Mexico? You think it’s Mexicans? No, it’s Chinese companies. It’s gotta stop,” Lutnick said.

Trump on Feb. 1 declared sweeping tariffs on imports from China, Canada, and Mexico to curb illegal immigration and the influx of drugs like fentanyl into the U.S. Following Trump’s announcement, Mexico deployed thousands of troops at the U.S.-Mexico border, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to bolster U.S.-Canadian border security, prompting Trump to suspend the tariffs for 30 days.

Trade tensions escalated as Beijing retaliated against Trump’s universal 10% tariff on all Chinese goods with tariffs on several U.S. exports. In his first term, Trump initiated a trade war by imposing multiple tariffs on China starting in 2018.

(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/Fox News)

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