Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Panamanian officials Feb. 2 that President Donald Trump has made a preliminary determination that China’s influence and control over the Panama Canal area threatens the waterway and violates the 1977 agreement that transferred U.S. control of the canal to Panama, according to State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce.
After President Donald Trump announced his sweeping tariff action on China under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, as well as now-delayed IEEPA tariffs on Mexico and Canada, trade lawyers told us to expect the duties to be challenged in court. Matt Nicely, lead counsel in the ongoing case against tariffs imposed on China during Trump's first administration, said in an email that a legal challenge is coming, a sentiment echoed across the trade bar.
After pulling back for the moment on threatened 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, China is the only country facing imminent tariffs over fentanyl smuggling. The 10% tariffs will be added to most favored nation duties or, for goods subject to Section 301 duties of either 25% or 7.5%, to those duties and the underlying MFN rates.
Tariffs will be delayed on Canada, President Donald Trump decided about eight hours before the deadline, and hours after he announced Mexico wouldn't face tariffs for the next month. He also granted Canada 30 days to convince him to keep duty-free trade flowing.
President Donald Trump posted on social media that he is holding off on imposing tariffs on Mexico for a month. "I just spoke with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico. It was a very friendly conversation wherein she agreed to immediately supply 10,000 Mexican Soldiers on the Border separating Mexico and the United States," he wrote. "These soldiers will be specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl, and illegal migrants into our Country. We further agreed to immediately pause the anticipated tariffs for a one month period during which we will have negotiations headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and high-level Representatives of Mexico."
Goods exempted from new tariffs on Canada and China because they were in transit when the tariffs were announced must be entered before Feb. 7 for Canada, and before March 7 for China, to qualify for the exemption, CBP said in a pair of Federal Register notices released the afternoon of Feb. 3.
The U.S. will delay its recently announced tariffs on Canada for “at least 30 days,” after President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reached a deal, said Trudeau in a tweet Feb. 3.
President Donald Trump signed on Feb. 1 an executive order setting a 25% tariff on most goods from Canada, but a 10% tariff on "energy goods." The emailed order says the tariffs will apply beginning 12:01 a.m. ET on Feb. 4, though goods in transit as of 12:01 a.m. ET on Feb. 1 will not be subject to the duties.
Hours after releasing an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on Canadian goods and a 10% tariff on energy goods from Canada, two additional orders came from the White House on Feb. 1: one setting a 10% tariff on goods from China and the other a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico.
The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing Feb. 6 to consider the nomination of Jamieson Greer to be the U.S. trade representative. Greer was the chief of staff in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative during President Donald Trump's first term in office.