President-elect Donald Trump has this week confirmed that he will be introducing tariff hikes on Mexico, Canada and China as one of his first actions when he takes up office on January 20th.

According to his post on the Truth Media platform, one of his first executive orders will be to impose a 25% tariff on all Mexican and Canadian products and an increase of 10% on Chinese products.

The US is the largest global importer of goods and Mexico, China and Canada are its biggest three suppliers. More than 83% of Mexico’s exports go to the US, as do 75% of Canada’s exports and around 17% of Chinese exports.

Trump has targeted the United States’ nearest neighbours over immigration, saying “On January 20th, as one of my many first executive orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous open borders.” 

Trump also said of China that he “had many talks with China about the massive amounts of drugs, in particular Fentanyl, being sent into the United States – But to no avail” adding “until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10% tariff, above any additional tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America.”

During Trump’s election campaign, he threatened to raise China tariffs by 60% and the rest of the world by 10-20%. However, since being re-elected, he has not confirmed details of any tariff hikes for global imports, including the UK.