In a statement on February 27, Mr. Trump said that a 25% tax on goods from Canada and Mexico would take effect from March 4 and that Chinese goods would also be subject to an additional 10% tax on that day.

US President Donald Trump has clarified discussions about tariffs the US plans to impose on trading partners.

Accordingly, the 25% tax on Canada and Mexico will be on schedule because, according to Mr. Trump, drugs are still pouring from these countries into the US at "very high and unacceptable levels", most of which is the addictive painkiller fentanyl.

"We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the United States, and therefore, until it is stopped or severely curtailed, the proposed tariffs scheduled to take effect on March 4th will indeed go into effect as scheduled," Mr. Trump wrote on social media.

"China will also be hit with an additional 10% tariff on that date," Trump added. On February 4, Chinese goods entering the US were subject to a 10% tariff.

There had been much talk about the deadline for imposing tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, and Trump’s comments on the issue during his first cabinet meeting on February 26 seemed to suggest that he might push the deadline back by about a month, to April 4.

Trump administration officials also said the April deadline was also for the US to impose reciprocal tariffs on other countries.

On February 26, Mr. Kevin Hassett, the White House's top economic adviser, told CNBC that Mr. Trump would determine the new tariff level after completing the investigation into retaliatory tariffs on April 1.

“The schedule is for the study to be released on April 1 and then the president will decide what to do about tariff policy for all countries,” Mr. Hassett said.