Our dear president announced recently that the 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada are going to take effect on March 4. But I don't think they will. I think this is just another negotiating ploy by Trump.
See, when they were first announced, he had meetings with them and announced they agreed to do a bunch of stuff and as a result he was putting them on hold. The great negotiator!
Now many folks pointed out they didn't agree to doing anything they hadn't already agreed to or weren't already doing. So it was no big deal to humor him and agree to his demands at that time. I even saw a few memes about it on social media.
But that was the hook.
Like a typical mob boss, he got them to agree to a small thing. Nothing really. No big deal, just agree to this and he'll hold off on the tariffs. But now comes the second ask. This one too will be small. Just give him a little more, no big deal really and he'll pause them once again.
Canada and Mexico will probably see this for the extortion it is and will weigh how important it is to stand against that or to give him what he wants, knowing that in a few months the next ask will be bigger, and then bigger, and then bigger. Who knows when enough will be enough for them or how they'll react. Or how Trump will react when they finally had enough.
So no, I don't really think those tariffs will go into place on Tuesday--just far enough in the future to re-negotiate a new deal--but eventually there will be a reckoning.
Sigh.
JIm