Trump Threatens More Tariffs on Mexico and Canada

In a Dec. 8 post on his media site Truth Social, Trump threatened to impose a 5% tariff on Mexico because the country "continues to violate our comprehensive Water Treaty," which he said is "seriously hurting our BEAUTIFUL TEXAS CROPS AND LIVESTOCK." He gave Mexico until Dec. 31 to release 200,000 acre-feet of water, saying "Mexico has an obligation to FIX THIS NOW."

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, during a Dec. 9 press conference, denied that Mexico was in violation of the 1944 water sharing treaty, but said there will be a meeting with the Trump administration later in the day. She said, according to an unofficial translation, that she is "convinced that, as on other occasions, we are going to reach an agreement for the benefit of the United States and for the benefit of Mexico."

Sheinbaum said that Mexico will be unable to meet Trump's deadline due to the needs of Mexico, "complying with the treaty," and the physical limitation of the size of the pipeline carrying water to the U.S.

Separately, at a Dec. 8 White House roundtable, Trump threatened Canada with "very severe tariffs" on fertilizer imports to bolster U.S. fertilizer production. He said that when fertilizer production leaves the U.S., "other countries, whether it's Canada or somebody else," charge "very high prices," and "we're not going to let that happen."

Trump also announced that he would be giving $12 billion to farmers as "economic assistance." He said the money would be "a small portion" of tariff revenue and will provide "much needed certainty to farmers" and "help them continue their efforts to lower food prices for American families." The bailout package will include $11 billion for commodities and $1 billion for specialty crops.

He defended his tariff policy, saying that "this money would not be possible without tariffs. The tariffs are taking in hundreds of billions of dollars and we're giving some up to the farmers because they were mistreated by other countries."

In a series of posts on Truth Social, Trump warned of the consequences of losing the power to tariff through IEEPA, saying that "because of Tariffs, easily and quickly applied, our National Security has been greatly enhanced, and we have become the financially strongest Country, by far, anywhere in the World. Only dark and sinister forces would want to see that end!!!" He said that the "biggest threat in history" to the U.S.'s national security "would be a negative decision on Tariffs by the U.S. Supreme Court."

In an interview with Politico, Trump said he would consider more tariff exemptions for affordability reasons, saying he had already made "very small carveouts. It's not a big deal." When asked if he would reduce tariffs on more goods, he said he would "on some. And some I'll increase tariffs."

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., excoriated Trump's tariff policy on the Senate floor, saying "the reason farmers need relief at all is largely because Donald Trump betrayed them and decimated their businesses with his disastrous tariffs. Now, Donald Trump is patting himself on the back, acting like a hero to farmers while using taxpayer dollars to clean up the mess he created. It’s textbook Donald Trump incompetence."

The top Democrat on the committee's trade subcommittee, Rep. Linda Sanchez of California, agreed, saying in a press release that Trump is "betting that throwing $12 billion in taxpayer dollars at the chaos he created will somehow make Americans forget he caused this disaster in the first place."