NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump ordered sweeping tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China demanding they stanch the flow of fentanyl – and illegal immigrants in the case of Canada and Mexico – into the United States.

A step that can potentially create trade war, Mexico and Canada have vowed retaliatory tariffs while China said it would challenge Trump’s move at the World Trade Organization.

In three executive orders, Trump imposed 25% tariffs on Mexican and most Canadian imports and 10% on goods from China.

In his executive order, Trump said that gang members, smugglers, human traffickers and illicit drugs of all kinds have poured across US borders and into its communities.  Canada has played a central role in these challenges, including by failing to devote sufficient attention and resources or meaningfully coordinate with United States law enforcement partners to effectively stem the tide of illicit drugs, the order added.

The challenges at its southern border are foremost in the public consciousness, but its northern border is not exempt from these issues.  Criminal networks are implicated in human trafficking and smuggling operations, enabling unvetted illegal migration across our northern border.  There is also a growing presence of Mexican cartels operating fentanyl and nitazene synthesis labs in Canada.  The flow of illicit drugs like fentanyl to the United States through both illicit distribution networks and international mail has created a public health crisis in the United States, the order stated.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would respond with 25% tariffs against $155 billion of US goods, including beer, wine, lumber and appliances, beginning with $30 billion taking effect Tuesday and $125 billion 21 days later.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, in a post on X, said she was instructing her economy minister to implement retaliatory tariffs but gave no details.

Trump declared the national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the National Emergencies Act to back the tariffs, which allow the President sweeping powers to impose sanctions to address crises.