“These are promises made and promises kept by the president,” Leavitt said.
There was no word on potential exemptions to the tariffs; the White House denied an earlier Reuters report that there would be at least some exclusions rather than simply blanket measures covering all products, and that the tariffs would be delayed until March 1.
Together, the U.S. does about $1.6 trillion in annual business with the three countries. Trump is seeking to use the tariffs as both bargaining chips and methods to effect foreign policy changes, specifically the immigration and drug trade issues.
“We’ve got the Super Bowl coming up, and eerily, the amount of people that fit in the [New Orleans] Superdome are almost exactly equal to the number of people dying every year here in America from fentanyl, and that comes from China and Mexico,” Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro told CNBC in an interview earlier Friday. “This is why we have these kind of discussions.”
Economists worry that the tariffs could reignite inflation at a time when it appears price pressures are beginning to abate. The Commerce Department reported Friday that an inflation reading closely watched by the Federal Reserve rose to 2.6% in December, but the details in the report appeared more positive.
However, Fed officials have said they are monitoring the impact of fiscal policy.
“It will be very important to have a better sense of the actual policies and how they will be implemented, in addition to greater confidence about how the economy will respond,” Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said.
Speaking to CNBC on Friday morning, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said the key will be whether the tariffs are one-off events or lead to retaliation.
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