Tariff Hour Nears

BUT NOW, PRESIDENT Trump's threat to impose a 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico and Canada as early as Saturday has hit companies like a freak ice storm in summer.

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"If you're an investment officer sitting in a C-suite, how do you decide where you're going to put money?" asked Mary E Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

President Trump himself signed a new trade pact with Mexico and Canada in 2020 during his first term. Now he is, in effect, ripping up that contract.

It's disorienting for any business, said Lovely, because trade agreements are intended to create "safe spaces" for long-term investment.

Trump also said he would impose new 10% tariffs on all imports from China starting on Saturday.

So far, other Asian as well as European trading partners escaped the first round of presidential trade deadlines.