Trump: 'No Room Left' to Avoid Tariffs

Last month, President Trump agreed to delay tariffs for a month after speaking to the leaders of Canada and Mexico, but it doesn't look like a reprieve will happen this time around. Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that there is "no room left" for the countries to avoid tariffs, the Guardian reports. "The tariffs, you know, they're all set. They go into effect tomorrow." Stock markets immediately tumbled, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 900 points at one pont. Trump signed an order for 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada on Feb. 1, saying the two countries were failing to stop fentanyl and migrants from coming over the border.

"Tomorrow, tariffs—25% on Canada and 25% on Mexico. And that'll start," Trump said, per the Washington Post. "So they're going to have to have a tariff. So what they have to do is build their car plants frankly and other things in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs. Earlier Monday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNN that Trump hadn't made up his mind on tariffs yet. "I'll be sitting across the table from the president pointing out that they have done a good job on the border, but they haven't done enough on fentanyl," he said. On Sunday, Lutnick said there would be some kind of trade action but it wasn't clear how high they would be. Trump also confirmed Monday that the 10% tariff he imposed on Chinese goods last month would be doubled.

The head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Sunday that there is no evidence that large quantities of fentanyl are being smuggled from Canada to the US. The White House has said 43 pounds of fentanyl was seized in the northern border region in the last fiscal year, but a Globe and Mail investigation found the statistics were misleading and some of the seizures had no link to Canada. Mélanie Joly, Canada's foreign minister, said Monday that Canada is ready to respond to tariffs, the AP reports. "We are ready with $155 billion worth of tariffs and we're ready with the first tranche of tariffs, which is $30 billion," she said. (More tariffs stories.)