Congress
Trump warns of new tariffs against Canada, Mexico, EU. And maybe Denmark, too.
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday repeated his threat to impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods from Mexico and Canada to pressure both countries to stop the flow of illegal immigration and cross-border fentanyl shipments.
“We’re going to put very serious tariffs on Mexico and Canada,” Trump said during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort, a little less than two weeks before he is sworn into office for a second term as president.
Trump also raised the U.S. trade deficit with Canada, complaining that, “they make 20 percent of our cars. We don’t need that. I’d rather make them in Detroit.”
“We don’t need anything they have,” he continued, singling out other key Canadian exports to the U.S., such as lumber and dairy.
The president-elect made similar complaints about the trade relationship with the European Union. “We have a trade deficit of $350 billion. They don’t take our cars, they don’t take our farm product, they don’t take anything. And so we’re not going to have it with them, either,” he said later in his remarks.
Top Canadian officials traveled down to Mar-a-Lago shortly after Christmas for discussion with Trump’s nominees to head the Commerce Department, Howard Lutnick, and the Interior Department, Doug Burgum.
That followed a dinner between Trump and outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in November, not long after Trump first made his tariff threat.
Trump’s proposed tariffs could hit more than $900 billion worth of goods from the two countries, including huge volumes of autos, auto parts and energy products. The two countries account for nearly one-third of U.S. goods imports, which totaled about $3.1 trillion last year.
Trump has joked — seemingly — about making Canada a 51st state. In response to a question, he ruled out doing that by military force, but he did suggest the possibility of using economic pressure to accomplish that outcome.
He did not, however, rule out the use of force in trying to claim Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, claiming it was in the United States’ national security interests to try and make the Arctic island a part of the country. Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., is currently in Greenland on a “private visit.”
The president-elect also threatened to “tariff Denmark at a very high level” if it does not cooperate with his bid to purchase the island. “People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do, they should give it up, because we need it for national security,” Trump said.
Trump’s proposed duties would violate commitments under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that was negotiated during his first term, although he could possibly justify the move under the agreement’s national security exception.
Trump has not specified how he plans to impose the new duties, although many have expected him to rely heavily on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to carry out many of his campaign tariff threats. That law gives the president broad authority to regulate U.S. commerce after declaring a national emergency.
Ari Hawkins contributed to this report.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he is confident Sen. Markwayne Mullin will be confirmed as the next secretary of Homeland Security despite a contentious exchange with fellow GOP Sen. Rand Paul at a hearing Wednesday.
Paul, the chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sharply questioned the Oklahoma senator about past remarks that he “understood” why Paul suffered a heinous assault from a neighbor in 2017. Mullin refused to apologize for the remark.
“Those two obviously have some history, and it’s, you know, personal stuff,” Thune said. “They’ve got to work through it. I mean, in the end, this is about the job, and it’s about making sure that we got the right person there. I think Markwayne is the right person for the job.”
Asked if he was still confident Mullin can be confirmed, Thune said, “Yeah.”
Paul has scheduled a committee vote on Mullin for Thursday. While Paul’s vote is in serious doubt, Mullin could win over Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who has expressed support for Mullin previously and said Wednesday he would approach the nomination “with an open mind.”
“I haven’t been rocked by some mic-dropping kind of moments,” Fetterman told reporters after the hearing.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin said he regretted calling Alex Pretti “deranged” but stopped short of offering a direct apology to Pretti’s family.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” the Oklahoma Republican said during his confirmation hearing Wednesday to serve as the next Homeland Security secretary. He was referring to his past comments regarding the U.S. citizen killed by federal immigration enforcement agents in Minnesota back in January, who some conservatives in the immediate aftermath labeled a “domestic terrorist.”
It was a stronger concession than Mullin gave just moments earlier, when he refused to apologize for calling Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the chair of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, a “snake.” Still, when pressed by the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, Mullin would not commit to apologizing to Pretti’s family until the conclusion of an investigation into the incident.
“If I’m proven wrong, then I will,” Mullin said.
Regarding Renee Good, another U.S. citizen killed by immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota earlier this year, Mullin refused to retract comments he made at the time of Good’s death, specifically that agents were justified in killing her. He told BLN in January that agents “had the right to defend themselves.”
He said he would wait for the findings of the investigation into Good’s killing to comment further; Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) countered that the Trump administration is currently blocking state and local inquiries.
A committee vote on Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s confirmation as Homeland Security secretary remains on track for Thursday despite a fiery sparring session Wednesday between the Oklahoma Republican and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the chair of the panel that must approve his nomination.
A spokesperson for Paul said after the tense exchange — during which Mullin refused to apologize for comments saying he “understood” why Paul was violently assaulted in 2017 — that the committee vote “is on for tomorrow.”
As chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Paul has wide latitude to schedule action on Mullin’s nomination.
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