WASHINGTON – The United States on March 4 started tariffs on imports from its three largest trading partners, with President Donald Trump announcing the 25% tariffs on products coming from Canada and Mexico and imposing an additional 10% tax on Chinese imports.

The Trump administration has said the tariffs are being imposed to hold Canada, Mexico and China accountable for their promises of “halting illegal immigration” and “stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs” from flowing into the country.

China wasted little time responding to the tariff increase, announcing that it was placing an additional tariff of 15% on US wheat, corn, cotton and chicken and an additional 10% on US soybeans, sorghum, pork, beef and other agricultural products, which translates to billions of dollars worth of US agricultural products.

Canada responded with a statement saying it would proceed with its proposed tariffs when the trade dispute was raised last month. Canada will initially impose tariffs on $30 billion of American goods, followed by $125 billion worth of other American products in 21 days.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on March 4 that her government would impose its own tariffs on US goods.

The US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) released a statement saying it was disappointed no agreements were reached to avoid or postpone tariffs from the three large trading partners of the US.

“We are reviewing the retaliatory measures announced by Canada and China and are watching for details on the response from Mexico,” said Dan Halstrom, president and chief executive officer for USMEF. “These three markets accounted for $8.4 billion in US red meat exports last year, including nearly $4 billion to Mexico. While the United States is the primary supplier of pork and beef to Mexico, US red meat has already been facing heightened competition in this critical market.”

During 2024, USMEF said that beef exports equated to more than $415 per fed steer or heifer slaughter and pork exports equated to more than $66 per head slaughtered.

“These exports, a large share of which are underutilized cuts and variety meat, help producers maximize the value of every animal produced and allow US consumers to enjoy more of the cuts they prefer,” Halstrom added.

While many sectors in the four countries would be damaged by an escalating trade war, economists have said that US agriculture would rank at or near the top of those most severely affected.

Canada is by far the largest exporter of wheat to the United States, which last year imported 92,000 tonnes from its northern neighbor, up from 65,000 tonnes the previous year, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture.  

Mexico accounts for nearly half of US corn exports, with an intake of 23.4 million tonnes in the 2023-24 marketing year worth an estimated $5 billion dollars, according to the FAS. US Census data also showed that Mexico was the leading importer of US wheat in 2023-24, purchasing $937 million worth of the food grain from its northern neighbor. Mexico was the second largest importer of US wheat in 2024 ($2 billion), Census data showed.  

Even before this latest round of tariffs, China’s imports of US agricultural products had been declining. The world’s top agricultural importer and second-largest economy brought in $29.25 billion worth of US agriculture products in 2024, a 14% drop from a year earlier, extending the 20% decline seen in 2023. China has been building food and agriculture self-sufficiency as it attempts to reduce its dependence on imports.

Although China has reduced its dependence on soybean imports from the United States in recent years, it still purchased an estimated $11 billion worth in 2024, the most by any country, according to Census data. Chinese wheat imports from the United States in 2024 were valued at $570 million, which ranked third. 

In 2018, during his first term as president, Trump initiated a trade war with China by imposing massive tariffs on Chinese goods. China responded in kind, which devastated US soybean and corn producers who since that time have lost a significant amount of the Chinese market to Brazil and other countries.