PoliticsFriday 01.31.25

“The February 1 deadline ... continues”: White House press sec. denies report that tariffs are delayed until March 1.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday denied a Reuters report that suggested President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China would be delayed until March 1.

“Reuters [is] reporting that the president has made a decision on the Canada-Mexico tariffs, but that they won’t actually be implemented until March 1,” a reporter asked Leavitt at the White House press briefing in the afternoon. “I was wondering if you could confirm that and talk through some of the president’s thinking on that.”

“I saw that report, and it is false,” Leavitt responded. “I was just with the president in the Oval Office, and I can confirm that tomorrow, the February 1 deadline that President Trump put into place at a statement several weeks ago, continues.”

Trump has vowed to impose the unusually heavy and broad tariffs to punish Canada, Mexico, and China for, in his view, trade imbalances and for not cracking down on the flow of illegal immigration and fentanyl.

Economists fear potential negative consequences from the tariffs: Canada and Mexico are some of the United States’ biggest trading partners, totaling $1.8 trillion in business between the three nations in 2023. And, historically, businesses pass on the increased costs of goods caused by tariffs to consumers.

Recount Wire

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