Voters sent President Donald Trump back to the White House, in part because of the rising cost of living under the Biden administration, which stretched families’ finances to the breaking point. But just weeks into his second term, the newly inaugurated president is enacting a policy that will increase costs at a time when Americans can least afford it.
Trump has announced 25% tariffs applied to Mexico and Canada that will take effect Feb. 1.
“We have to do [this] because we have very big [trade] deficits with those countries,” he explained. “Those tariffs may or may not rise with time.”
The president’s main gripe is that we have “trade deficits” with Canada and Mexico. This means that we buy more goods from them than we sell to them. On net, due to trade with these countries, money flows out of our country, and goods — such as lumber, materials,…
