After starting trade war, Trump says U.S. has ‘been ripped off for decades’

The U.S. president remained adamant that tariffs would benefit America even as a key member of his team has floated that a compromise could materialize Wednesday.

A day into Donald Trump’s North American trade war, the U.S. president remained adamant that tariffs would benefit America even as a key member of his team has floated that a compromise could materialize Wednesday.

Trump addressed a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, for the first time since he returned to office in January, by making a case for his massive tariff agenda.

“We have been ripped off for decades by nearly every country on Earth and we will not let that happen any longer,” Trump told lawmakers in Washington.

The president’s executive order hitting Canada and Mexico with 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs, with a lower 10 per cent levy on Canadian energy, took effect Tuesday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the continental trade war “dumb” and said Canada was forced to push back. He framed Trump’s ultimate tariff goal as “a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that will make it easier to annex us.”

Ottawa introduced immediate 25 per cent retaliatory tariffs on $30 billion worth of American products, which will expand to cover another $125 billion in U.S. goods in 21 days.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government would announce duties on targeted products and other measures Sunday. She said “there is no motive or reason, nor justification that supports this decision that will affect our people and our nations.”

The tariffs caused immediate market turbulence as many business and industry groups condemned devastating duties against America’s closest neighbours.