President Trump took to his Truth Social account on Saturday, and announced the latest tariffs being imposed by the U.S.on imports and as he previewed recently, these came in the form of letters to their leaders/representatives.
The letters were slated to start going out on Monday, according to the president, during remarks to an impromptu gaggle aboard Air Force One after the Independence Day event:
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A 30 percent tariff will begin on Aug. 1, as Trump wrote in his posts, for both Mexico and the European Union:
He wrote to Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo that while her country has helped "secure the border" with the U.S. against illicit drug smuggling, it "is not enough":
In his letter to Sheinbaum Pardo, Trump cited the flow of fentanyl across the southern border, which was the original basis for a 25 percent tariff he imposed on Mexican goods earlier this year.
“Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough,” the president wrote.
Readers might remember that in Feb., we slapped a 25 percent tariff on Mexican products, although some of them were excluded from tariffs.
RELATED: Mexico Just Bent the Knee to Trump's Tariffs, Major Breakthrough in Relations
In Pres. Trump's missive to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, he wrote:
“We have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with The European Union, and have concluded that we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, Trade Deficits, engendered by your Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers."
Word of the new levies comes after a slew of them did go out on Monday, including a 25 percent tariff on Japan and South Korea.
We have also made a recent trade deal in July with Vietnam, as my colleague Susie Moore wrote, as well as previous ones with the United Kingdom back in May, and China (the latter, on both rare minerals and trade) in June.
Sen. Eric Schmitt has some thoughts for any naysayers on the effect the tariffs might have on the U.S. economy:
More winning, and exactly what so many voted for in November.