AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Friday at the White House, President Donald Trump was asked this by NBC reporter Kelly O'Donnell.
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KELLY O'DONNELL: Mr. President, is there anything China, Canada and Mexico can do tonight to forestall your implementation of tariffs tomorrow?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. Nothing. Not right now. No.
O'DONNELL: Not a negotiating tool?
TRUMP: No, it's not. No.
RASCOE: And yesterday, the president did sign executive orders authorizing new tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China. But they won't go into effect until Tuesday, leaving the door open for a last minute reprieve. Let's bring in Scott Horsley, NPR's chief economics correspondent. Hi, Scott.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So Trump has talked about tariffs a lot on the campaign trail. And so it seems like they're kind of here now.
HORSLEY: Yeah, not quite. You know, as late as Friday, Trump and his press secretary were insisting these tariffs, ranging from 10- to 25%, would go into effect on February 1. That was yesterday. So all day yesterday, we waited for some confirmation that the president's order had come. It finally did come around supper time. But instead of taking effect on February 1, the tariffs are now set to go into effect on February 4, which is Tuesday, which seems a little bit like the parent who says, I'm going to count to three. One, two, 2 1/2, 2 3/4 - have you ever said that to your kids, Ayesha?
RASCOE: I do, but I don't play. I finish it up.
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HORSLEY: Well, it's certainly possible that Trump is not playing, that we will get to three, and these import taxes will, in fact, start to bite on Tuesday, but we're not there yet. And, you know, some people have been saying all along, this is just a negotiating tactic. Trump's not really going to pull the trigger on these tariffs. And if indeed that were his plan, it might look something like this.
RASCOE: So maybe there's an off-ramp, but if there isn't, what happens come Tuesday?
HORSLEY: Well, then we're going to be talking about big new taxes on imports from three of this country's biggest trading partners. The U.S. imports more than $1 trillion worth of stuff from these countries every year. Adding a big tariff would mean a lot of extra cost for businesses and consumers here in the United States. And Trump kind of acknowledged that in his order.
You know, one of the things we buy a lot of from Canada is crude oil, and Trump does not want to get blamed for a spike at the gas pump. So while he's ordering a 25% tariff on other imports from Canada and Mexico, he's calling for a smaller 10% tariff on Canadian crude. Of course, you could apply the same logic to everything else we import from these countries. You know, why have a higher tax on fruits and vegetables, for example, or TV sets or auto parts?
RASCOE: What kind of reaction has there been here to the president's tariffs?
HORSLEY: Well, the White House passed along a lot of supportive statements from Republican allies, like Tommy Tuberville and Marsha Blackburn. But business groups are less enthusiastic. The Chamber of Commerce put out a statement saying, tariffs are not the answer. Democrats are warning these import taxes will drive up prices for working families. And the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed from former GOP Senator Phil Gramm and former Democratic Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. Those two don't agree on much, but they both say tariffs are bad for the economy.
RASCOE: And how are countries targeted by the tariffs responding?
HORSLEY: Well, Canada and Mexico have already promised to retaliate with tariffs of their own on U.S. exports. You know, we've had decades of free trade in North America, which could be upended by these tariffs, but we've still got a couple of days to see if they actually come to pass.
RASCOE: NPR's Scott Horsley, thank you very much.
HORSLEY: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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