Treasury chief urges Canada, Mexico to match U.S. tariffs on China as deadline looms

Vice President JD Vance talks with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, center, before President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Evan Vucci/AP)

WASHINGTON — U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent encouraged Canada on Friday to follow Mexico in matching U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods as the two U.S. neighbors sought to avoid punishing 25 per cent U.S. tariffs due on Tuesday over fentanyl trafficking.

Canadian and Mexican officials have fanned out across Washington seeking to show President Donald Trump‘s administration that they were making progress in securing their U.S. borders to curb the flow of the dangerous opioid.

Bessent, speaking in a Bloomberg Television interview, said Mexico had proposed matching the U.S. tariffs aimed at China, but he did not specify which level. Trump on Feb. 4 imposed a 10 per cent duty on all Chinese imports, then said on Thursday he would double that to 20 per cent from Tuesday.

“I think it would be a nice gesture if the Canadians did it also - so in a way, we could have fortress North America from the flood of Chinese imports that’s coming out of the most unbalanced economy in the history of modern times,” Bessent said.

China’s embassy in Washington said Trump’s unilateral tariff hikes would severely violate World Trade Organization rules and hurt both Chinese and U.S. interests.

“Pressuring, coercion and threat is not the right way to deal with China. Instead, mutual respect is the basic prerequisite,” embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in a statement to Reuters.

The Mexican and Canadian governments did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Bessent’s remarks.

More meetings

Canadian Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said at the end of a four-day visit to Washington that he continued to communicate with Trump administration that Canada was acting swiftly to secure its borders.

“We’ve made some very serious adjustments, investments, improvements on the border, and we spent the entire week for four days of meetings, communicating those results, communicating those improvements to our counterparts here in Washington,” McGuinty told reporters after meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and border czar Tom Homan.

Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said he had a “cordial working meeting” with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. In a post on X, Ebrard said the U.S. and Mexico “have a great future working together” but offered no details on discussions over the U.S. tariff deadline.

Trump cited insufficient progress in reducing fentanyl overdose deaths in the U.S. for the planned duties on more than $900 billion worth of annual imports from Canada and Mexico.

Drug suspects extradited

Mexico on Thursday staged its largest mass extradition of suspected drug cartel members in 10 years, including a 1980s kingpin who spent decades in prison for the murder of a U.S. drug enforcement agent and 28 other suspects.

Rafael Caro Quintero, 72, pleaded not guilty on Friday in federal court in New York on U.S. drug trafficking charges that could result in his execution. The other extradited suspects included younger leaders accused of moving fentanyl into the U.S.

Mexico’s Deputy Economy Minister Vidal Llerenas said on Thursday that Mexico could adopt other trade measures beyond the recent tariffs it imposed on certain imports to reduce low-value shipments from China.

The U.S. earlier this month moved to suspend the “de minimis” duty-free exemption for packages valued below $800 that has allowed fentanyl and its precursor chemicals to arrive unscreened through U.S. airports and border crossings.

But as packages piled up, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency paused the suspension until it could put effective screening measures in place.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 72,776 people died from synthetic opioids in 2023 in the U.S., chiefly from fentanyl.

The Tuesday tariff deadline for China coincides with the start of its annual parliamentary meetings on Wednesday, a prime event on Beijing’s political calendar, where leaders are expected to unveil their main economic priorities for 2025.

Trump’s announcement leaves Beijing with less than a week to publish countermeasures, as the Trump administration shows signs of a hardening stance towards its strategic rival despite backing down on the threat of 60% tariffs when Trump took office on Jan. 20.

Article written By David Lawder and Jasper Ward.

Reporting by David Lawder; additional reporing by Brendan O’Boyle, Jasper Ward and Andrea Shalal in Washington and David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Ryan Jones in Toronto; Editing by Paul Simao, Nick Zieminski and William Mallard.