The US president says he ‘may or may not’ exclude oil imports from tariffs.
United States President Donald Trump has reiterated his threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico from Saturday while leaving open the possibility that oil imports could be exempted.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump said he “may or may not” exclude oil from the tariffs and would decide “probably tonight”.
“We’re going to make that determination probably tonight on oil,” Trump said at the Oval Office.
“Because they send us oil. We’ll see, it depends on what their price is.”
Trump said that the US would be able to make up for any decline in imports “very quickly”.
“Because we don’t need the products they have. We have all the oil you need,” he said.
Canada alone supplied more than half of US crude oil imports in 2023, with Mexico accounting for a further 11 percent, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Canada and Mexico have both pledged to respond to US tariffs in kind while attempting to assure Washington that they are committed to addressing its border security concerns.
Trump first announced plans to impose the tariffs shortly after his election in November, casting the measures as a response to the flow of undocumented migrants and illegal drugs across the border.
Trump floated February 1 as the start date for the tariffs shortly after his inauguration on January 20.
Trump also said at the time that he was considering a 10 percent tariff on China to pressure Beijing to halt the supply of the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
Trump said on Thursday that he was “thinking about” doing something in relation to China as fentanyl was “causing us hundreds of thousands of deaths.”
“So China is going to end up paying a tariff also for that, and we are in the process of doing that,” he said.
Beijing has warned against a return to protectionism and called for “win-win” solutions to the trade-related differences between sides.
