Trump Says He'll Be Hard to Satisfy on Border Issue Tariff Threat; Says 25% on EU Coming Soon

He was responding to a reporter's question about what would happen at the end of the 30-day pause on 25% tariffs on all Mexican goods and all Canadian goods other than energy at his first Cabinet meeting. In response to another question, he said there would be 25% tariffs on EU imports.

Trump said the fentanyl deaths are "because of the crap that comes through China, through Mexico and through Canada. A lot of it comes through Canada." CBP data says that 21,100 pounds of fentanyl was stopped at the Southwest border with Mexico in fiscal year 2024, while 35 pounds of fentanyl was seized at the Canadian border.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick corrected the president, who initially said the tariffs on Canada and Mexico would come April 2, noting that the fentanyl pause is a different matter. "The overall is April 2," Lutnick said. "The big transaction's April 2." Lutnick added that Canada and Mexico are working hard on the border, but it's up to them to satisfy the president.

After Trump wrongly said a lot of fentanyl comes through Canada, he said again that Canada should be the 51st state. "We support Canada. We let 'em make millions of cars. We don't need their lumber."

"Without us, Canada can't make it," he said, and said that 95% of Canadian exports come to the U.S. (The real figure is 76% of Canadian goods exports go to the U.S.)

"I say Canada should be our 51st state," he said, because if Canada was part of the U.S., there would be no need for tariffs.

"We protect Canada" militarily, he said. "It's not fair. If they had to pay their way, they couldn't exist."

As Trump often does, he said that the U.S. gives a $200 billion annual subsidy to Canada.

TD Bank economists wrote, "With respect to Trump’s assertion that the U.S. subsidizes Canada to the tune of US$200 billion per year, it’s unclear where this number is derived. In any event, rather than a subsidy, the U.S. trade deficit is a by-product of U.S. economic outperformance relative to other countries."

The actual goods trade deficit was $63 billion, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Even if you consider a $45 billion shortfall in Canadian defense spending below the 3% of GDP NATO target Trump has argued for, it still doesn't add up, the economists noted.

"The tariffs will make it impossible for them to sell cars into the United States," Trump declared. "The tariffs will make it impossible to sell lumber or anything else into the United States. And all I'm asking to do is break even, or lose a little bit, not lose $200 billion dollars."

After his criticism of Canada, another reporter asked Trump about the level of tariffs he'd impose on the European Union in his push for reciprocal trade.

"We have made a decision, we'll be announcing it very soon, and it'll be 25%, generally speaking, and it'll be on cars and all other things," Trump said. "They don't accept our cars, they don't accept, essentially, our farm products, they use all sorts of reasons why not, and we accept everything of them, and we have about a $300 billion deficit with Europe."

He added, "The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That's the purpose of it, and they've done a good job of it."

When asked about European retaliation, he said, "They can try, but the numbers can never equal ours." He said if other countries try to retaliate against U.S. exports, the U.S. can just stop importing their goods. "We just go cold turkey, and we don't buy any more, and if that happens, we win," he said.