Trump Says China Tariff Doubling, Mexican and Canadian Tariffs Begin March 4

Trump added a new tariff plan, as well -- to double the fentanyl-related tariff on Chinese goods to 20%. So goods imported from China would be subject to most-favored nation duties, Section 301 or Section 232 duties, if they apply, and 20% duties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The top Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee and its trade subcommittee acted as if Trump meant April 2 during a cabinet meeting held Feb. 26 where he mentioned that date in connection with the tariffs, rather than it being a verbal gaffe he was trying to rectify with this post.

"President Trump has been waffling all week on his reckless tariffs on Canada and Mexico because the consequences are spooking him. On Monday, he said they were on track to be implemented in March, yesterday he delayed them until April, and now they’re supposedly set to hit next week -- assuming he doesn’t change his mind yet again," Reps. Richard Neal, D-Mass., and Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., wrote.

Trump said the only way those tariffs would not be hiked -- or would end -- is when the scourge of fentanyl and other opiates "stops, or is seriously limited."

"The April Second Reciprocal Tariff date will remain in full force and effect. Thank you for your attention to this matter," he wrote. "GOD BLESS AMERICA!"

Neal and Sanchez also said these, and tariffs on the EU, were reckless and self-sabotaging.

“Businesses don’t know where to turn for safety. Consumers see only higher and higher prices. Our workers and farmers know too well that trade wars bring pink slips," they wrote.

"Tariffs are a tool that can help level the playing field for American workers, not settle political scores and coerce our allies."

The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., also blasted the proposed tariffs on USMCA partners:

“Trump is driving the U.S. economy straight into a wall and expecting American families to serve as human crash test dummies. Slapping tariffs on everything Americans buy from Canada, Mexico, and China will mean higher prices on groceries, gas and cars, with fewer jobs and lower pay when our closest trading partners respond to Trump’s trade war by buying fewer American products.

“Anyone who voted for Donald Trump because they wanted lower prices and a fairer economy has a right to feel betrayed by his economic sabotage. And it is hard to see why any foreign leader would make a deal with someone who changes his mind daily and can’t stick to agreements from month to month.”

The Ways and Means members also included a copy of a letter all the Democrats on the committee sent the president earlier in the month, when he first set a deadline for the 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

That letter said, in part: "While we have disagreements on certain trade matters with Canada and Mexico, these problems should be addressed through the USMCA review process, which includes consultation between the Executive branch, Congress, and stakeholders. You have also drastically abused the limited grant of trade powers by Congress to the Executive branch conferred by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). It does not appear that your invocation of the statute in the Executive Orders meets either substantive or procedural requirements. Threatening tariffs on Canada, which is not a major source of fentanyl, is an inappropriate response to the scourge of the drug in our communities, or to China’s continued production and export of fentanyl and its precursors."