President Trump mentioned on Monday evening that he deliberate to impose a 25 % tariff on merchandise from Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1 and may impose levies on most American imports, as he signed an government order directing federal businesses to ship a sweeping evaluate of U.S. commerce insurance policies by this spring.

Chatting with reporters from the Oval Workplace on Monday night, Mr. Trump mentioned he was considering of placing tariffs on Mexican and Canadian merchandise as a result of these nations have been permitting “mass numbers of individuals to come back in and fentanyl to come back in.” Requested when he may put these in place, Mr. Trump mentioned, “I believe we’ll do it Feb. 1.”

Mr. Trump additionally mentioned he “could” impose a common tariff on all imports, saying that “basically all nations benefit from the U.S.”

The feedback renewed the specter of an imminent commerce conflict, simply hours after such an consequence had appeared to recede. Mr. Trump signed an government order on Monday directing varied businesses to review all kinds of commerce points with a watch towards future tariffs, however he didn’t impose any new levies instantly, as he had beforehand threatened.

Nonetheless, the chief order may tee up quite a lot of vital commerce actions within the months to come back. The order directed Mr. Trump’s officers to ship reviews to him, largely by April 1, assessing unfair commerce practices, forex manipulation, U.S. expertise controls and discriminatory international taxes.

It ordered U.S. officers to look at flows of migrants and medicines from Canada, China and Mexico to the US, and the compliance of these three nations and others with their current commerce agreements with the US.

The manager order additionally known as for officers to research the causes of huge and protracted commerce deficits and “suggest applicable measures, corresponding to a world supplemental tariff or different insurance policies, to treatment such deficits.”

Mr. Trump’s order additionally adopted by way of on his latest feedback to create an company he has known as the Exterior Income Service to gather tariffs. It requested officers to “examine the feasibility of creating and suggest the most effective strategies for designing, constructing and implementing” the Exterior Income Service to gather tariffs and duties from international sources. Tariffs and different import duties are at the moment collected by Customs and Border Safety.

U.S. officers will even spend the subsequent few months figuring out nations the US may negotiate new commerce offers with, in addition to finishing up a full evaluate of the U.S. industrial and manufacturing base to evaluate whether or not additional national-security-related tariffs are warranted.

In his inauguration handle on Monday, Mr. Trump mentioned he would “instantly start the overhaul of our commerce system to guard American staff and households.”

“The American dream will quickly be again and thriving like by no means earlier than,” he added.

Mr. Trump’s advisers say he stays extra satisfied than ever that tariffs can be utilized to nice benefit. The manager order will tee up the president’s means to deploy tariffs on quite a few targets ought to he so select, strikes that might nonetheless scramble worldwide provide chains and spawn international commerce wars.

Folks aware of the plans mentioned the president and his advisers have been favoring a mix of commerce insurance policies like these he floated on the marketing campaign path. These embody a common tariff on international merchandise, a better tariff on China and separate measures that might handle the commerce relationship with Mexico and Canada by imposing taxes on these nations as effectively.

By ordering investigations into quite a lot of commerce subjects, Mr. Trump could agency up the authorized rationale that may assist his tariffs survive courtroom challenges, whereas additionally giving a few of his high commerce officers time to be confirmed by the Senate, analysts mentioned.

Mr. Trump has praised tariffs for his or her means to assist U.S. factories, increase income to assist pay for the tax cuts he hopes to enact and usually function a supply of leverage in negotiations with international nations.

Whereas managing commerce is technically the area of Congress, varied commerce legal guidelines have given the president wide-ranging powers to problem tariffs. The president can use them to defend U.S. nationwide safety, reply unfair commerce practices and counter varied sorts of worldwide emergencies.

Mr. Trump and his advisers are persevering with to debate the most effective methodology to problem their tariffs, however they imagine they’ve the authorized authority to make use of any of them, folks aware of the deliberations mentioned.

Mr. Trump mentioned on social media in November that he would impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico on his first day in workplace. In response, the Canadian and Mexican governments have tried to mollify Mr. Trump and chase away tariffs. They’ve organized conferences with the president and his advisers, and reassured him in regards to the measures they’re taking to safe their borders.

Nonetheless, each governments have additionally warned that they may reply to any tariffs with penalties of their very own. Canada has mentioned it deliberate to retaliate with tariffs and different commerce restrictions if Mr. Trump went forward together with his plan, and Mexico has additionally threatened its personal tariffs on American exports.

“Our nation is totally prepared to reply to any one in all these situations,” Dominic LeBlanc, the Canadian finance minister, mentioned on Monday night. “We nonetheless proceed to imagine that it might be a mistake for the American authorities to proceed with imposing tariffs.”

Throughout his first time period, Mr. Trump rocked the nation’s international commerce relationships by imposing tariffs on international washing machines, photo voltaic panels, metals and quite a lot of merchandise from China. These strikes almost doubled the typical tariff price utilized to imported items, although U.S. tariffs remained comparatively low by worldwide requirements.

Some U.S. producers credit score the tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed throughout his first time period — and that President Joseph R. Biden Jr. saved in place — with serving to their companies survive amid intense competitors from nations like China.

However economists and different companies argue that tariffs may also trigger financial hurt, by elevating prices for households and companies that depend on imported merchandise, and inciting retaliation from different governments that may harm U.S. exports.

Lydia Cox, an economist on the College of Wisconsin-Madison, described tariffs as “a reasonably blunt instrument” in an internet discussion board hosted by the Harvard Kennedy Faculty final week. Tariffs provide some potential advantages for protected industries, she mentioned, “however they create quite a lot of collateral harm alongside the way in which.”

Matina Stevis-Gridneff contributed reporting from Toronto.