US President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes on Canada, Mexico and China went into effect Saturday evening with an announcement from the White House marking the start of a trade war that is expected to spread to other countries.

The Trump administration has levied an additional tariff of 25 per cent on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10 per cent on those from China. Oil imports from Canada will, however, be subject to a lower levy of 10 per cent.

The inflow of “Illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl, constitutes a national emergency”, the White House said in a factsheet detailing and explaining the tariff hikes. “President Trump is taking bold action to hold Mexico, Canada, and China accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country,” it added.

This is expected to be just the first salvo in President Trump’s promise to use tariffs to address trade and non-trade issues with key trading partners. He has plans of announcing tariff hikes on computer chips Sector-wise hikes on computer chips, pharmaceuticals, steel, aluminium, copper, oil and gas imports later this month, with the EU in his crosshairs.

“The orders make clear that the flow of contraband drugs like fentanyl to the United States, through illicit distribution networks, has created a national emergency, including a public health crisis,” the White House fact sheet said.

“Chinese officials have failed to take the actions necessary to stem the flow of precursor chemicals to known criminal cartels and shut down money laundering by transnational criminal organisations.”

The White House went on to castigate the Mexican government for working in cahoots with the Mexican cartels that are bringing these drugs into the US. “The Mexican drug trafficking organizations have an intolerable alliance with the government of Mexico,” it said, adding, “The government of Mexico has afforded safe havens for the cartels to engage in the manufacturing and transportation of dangerous narcotics, which collectively have led to the overdose deaths of hundreds of thousands of American victims”

These cartels are present also in Canada, the White House said. “A recent study recognised Canada's heightened domestic production of fentanyl, and its growing footprint within international narcotics distribution,” the factsheet added.