Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico coming on Tuesday but may not be 25%, says commerce secretary – US politics live
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Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said on Sunday that US tariffs on Canada and Mexico will go into effect on Tuesday, but the president would determine whether to stick with the planned 25% level.
“That is a fluid situation,” Lutnick told the Fox News program Sunday Morning Futures. “There are going to be tariffs on Tuesday on Mexico and Canada. Exactly what they are, we’re going to leave that for the president and his team to negotiate.”
Lutnick’s comments were the first indication from Trump’s administration that it may not impose the full threatened 25% tariffs on all goods from Mexico and non-energy imports from Canada.
He said the two countries have “done a reasonable job” securing their borders with the United States, though he maintained the deadly drug fentanyl continues to flow into the country.
Several major Republican donors are throwing their financial support behind the primary opponent of Ed Gainey, who became Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor in 2022 and now faces a difficult re-election fight this year, in a seemingly concerted effort to oust the progressive leader.
The Democratic primary battle between Gainey and Corey O’Connor, the Allegheny county controller, is shaping up to be one of the biggest tests of the progressive movement since Donald Trump’s victory last November. The victor of the 20 May primary is widely expected to win the general election, and with few major races on the ballot this year, Gainey’s re-election could provide a morale boost for progressives still reeling from Democrats’ losses in the 2024 races.
The mayoral race may also offer insight into the broader political environment in Pennsylvania, a pivotal battleground state that Trump won by roughly 2 points last year. While Trump made marginal gains in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties, his performance in Allegheny county, which covers Pittsburgh, remained virtually unchanged from four years earlier. Trump won just 22% of the Pittsburgh vote, while 77% went to Kamala Harris.
Freed Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi has been invited to Washington to meet Donald Trump this week, his brother told Israeli media on Sunday.
Sharabi, who was released from Gaza after 16 months in captivity, expects to meet Trump with other freed hostages on Tuesday, after the US president watched him describe the severe hunger and violence he endured on Israeli television.
Excerpts from Sharabi’s moving interview on Israel’s Channel 12 “were shown to Trump, with English subtitles, and he was shocked once again, but also expressed great sympathy for those who survived captivity”, his brother Sharon said, according to a translation from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Israeli advocacy groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), have posted subtitled versions of the interview online.
When Sharabi and two other hostages, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, were released on 8 February alongside after nearly 500 days in captivity, their physical condition outraged Israelis, and Trump. Sharabi was at home in Be’eri kibbutz with his British-born wife and their two teenage daughters when Hamas attacked on 7 October 2023.
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said on Sunday that US tariffs on Canada and Mexico will go into effect on Tuesday, but the president would determine whether to stick with the planned 25% level.
“That is a fluid situation,” Lutnick told the Fox News program Sunday Morning Futures. “There are going to be tariffs on Tuesday on Mexico and Canada. Exactly what they are, we’re going to leave that for the president and his team to negotiate.”
Lutnick’s comments were the first indication from Trump’s administration that it may not impose the full threatened 25% tariffs on all goods from Mexico and non-energy imports from Canada.
He said the two countries have “done a reasonable job” securing their borders with the United States, though he maintained the deadly drug fentanyl continues to flow into the country.