Asian markets saw big fluctuations Tuesday as Donald Trump took office warning he could impose stiff tariffs on Canada and Mexico next month but appeared to delay any action against China for now.
The new US president’s announcement that the country’s closest neighbours could be hit with 25 per cent levies as soon as February 1 also jolted currency markets, with the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar tumbling.
His comments came as he signed a slew of executive orders that indicated he could resume his hardball approach to global diplomacy and trade, including pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization.
He also gave social media app TikTok 75 days to find a buyer for its US business, after it missed a deadline Saturday ordering its Chinese owners ByteDance to sell its US subsidiary to non-Chinese buyers or be banned.
“We’re thinking in terms of 25 per cent on Mexico and Canada because they’re allowing vast numbers of people — Canada’s a very bad abuser also — vast numbers of people to come in, and fentanyl to come in,” he said in the Oval Office.
He had earlier said he would “immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families”.
“Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” he announced in his inaugural address.
