Trump rolls back tariffs on some Mexican, Canadian goods

Trump rolls back tariffs on some Mexican, Canadian goods.

Second person in two weeks has died from measles.

Just two days after imposing sweeping 25% tariffs on both Canada and Mexico, Trump announced today that he would be pausing tariffs on goods from both countries covered under the USMCA trade deal, which he signed on to during his first administration. The pause will last for one month and covers about 50% of goods from Mexico and 38% of goods from Canada.

The tariffs will still apply to a wide range of products across all categories of consumer goods as well as building materials in various types of industrial equipment. To be compliant with USMCA, a product must be either entirely made or substantially “transformed” within North America

Yesterday, the White House announced that auto manufacturers would be exempt for one month after automakers warned of widespread disruption.

What is the point of the tariffs?

Trump says that he has imposed the tariffs to pressure Canada and Mexico to do more about the influx of migrants and fentanyl from their countries into the US. Flows of both migrants and fentanyl have decreased substantially in the past 2 months, largely due to steps agreed to by both Canada and Mexico shortly before Trump came into office.

It’s not entirely clear what more Trump hopes to accomplish through this pressure campaign. So far, the most immediate effects have been to create uncertainty for retailers, consumers, producers, and investors. Ultimately, American consumers will bear the brunt of the tariff policy in the form of higher prices on a wide range of goods.

In addition, Trump’s rhetoric, seen as an attack on the industrial bases of our two neighboring countries, has created a lot of ill feeling among their respective populations. In Canada particularly, there have been growing calls to boycott American-made products in favor of Canadian alternatives. Boycotts, along with planned retaliatory tariffs on American goods, could ultimately hurt US manufacturing.

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Second person in two weeks has died from measles

Just over a week after a child in Texas died from measles, a second person, this time an adult, has died from the disease in New Mexico. Like the child, the adult victim was also unvaccinated. The child was the first person to die in the US of the disease since 2015.

The adult victim was from Lea County in New Mexico which has recently recorded 10 confirmed measles infections. Lea County is just over the state line from the area of Texas where the child died last week. This West Texas area has recently recorded 159 measles cases, the vast majority of them in unvaccinated patients.

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