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‘A very expensive economic lesson:’ Trump promises to employ multiple tariffs on January 20

Donald Trump has transparently said that he’ll be employing tariffs during his 2024 presidential campaign. Now that he promised to place tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China, Americans on social media are panicking.

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Trump proudly announced on Truth Social that he will be signing an executive order that will place a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico. China, which Trump has ignited a trade war with in his first term, will get an additional 10% tariff on top of other existing tariffs it already has in place. These tariffs will be effective by January 20, 2025, his inauguration day.

Needless to say, many Americans who didn’t vote for Trump were disappointed with the election outcome. Many expressed exasperation at the projected price hikes of essential goods. One wrote, “Americans are about to get a very expensive economics lesson on what tariffs do to prices of everyday goods.”

Those against Trump believe that his supporters simply don’t understand what tarriffs mean. The data suggests that 46% of voters believe that 10% tariffs on all foreign imports would benefit the economy. If immediate relief from inflation is what they sought, they might find themselves bracing for hardship instead. It’s not like Elon Musk didn’t warn them about bracing for ‘temporary hardship,’ after all.

Canada PM Justin Trudeau meets Donald Trump

Canadian PM Trudeau had dinner at Mar-a-Lago on November 29, 2024, where he discussed an array of issues with Trump. Trudeau disclosed that he had to make Trump understand how the tariffs would adversely affect Canadians and Americans. He stated, “Our responsibility is to point out that in this way he would actually not just be harming Canadians, who work so well with the United States; he’d actually be raising prices for American citizens as well and hurting American industry and businesses.”

Although Americans are expecting the worst from Trump’s tariffs, perhaps there’s still time to change his mind.


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Vanessa Esguerra
Vanessa Esguerra (She/They) has been a Contributing Writer for The Mary Sue since 2023. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy, she (happily) rejected law school in 2021 and has been a full-time content writer since. Vanessa is currently taking her Master's degree in Japanese Studies in hopes of deepening her understanding of the country's media culture in relation to pop culture, women, and queer people like herself. She speaks three languages but still manages to get lost in the subways of Tokyo with her clunky Japanese. Fueled by iced coffee brewed from local cafés in Metro Manila, she also regularly covers anime and video games while queuing for her next match in League of Legends.