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Trump announces that the tariffs imposed on Canada and Mexico this Saturday may not include oil

Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said on Thursday that he will decide soon whether or not to exempt Canadian and Mexican oil from the 25% tariffs he had promised to impose Saturday on their products.

"We might or might not." Trump stated that he will make a decision about imposing tariffs on Canadian or Mexican oil "probably tonight." Trump said that the decision would be based in part on price and whether or not both countries "treat" him properly.

Trump has set Saturday as the deadline for imposing 25% tariffs on imported goods from Mexico and Canada in order to pressure the two biggest U.S. trading partner to take action and stop illegal migrants and shipments fentanyl crossing their border into the U.S.

Trump said on Thursday that the North American tariffs would be imposed for "a number of different reasons," and that the tariff level "may, or may not, rise over time."

Trump said that he is still considering new tariffs for Chinese goods due to its role in the fentanyl traffic. Trump has threatened to impose a 10% tariff on all Chinese products, after imposing punitive duties on $370 billion of Chinese imports in his first term.

Trump said that he was also considering a solution for China, because it is sending fentanyl to our country. This has caused us hundreds of thousand of deaths. China will also pay a tariff as retaliation and we are in the process of doing this.

"We will decide what the solution is, but China must stop sending fentanyl to our country to kill our people."

Beijing has called for Washington to take measures to curb drug demand.

Mexico's Economy Ministry declined to comment on Trump's most recent remarks. Justin Trudeau's office in Canada was not available to comment. Reporting by Steve Holland and Brendan O'Boyle; Writing by David Lawder, Jason Lange and Caitlin Babington; Editing and proofreading by Caitlin Babington and Deepa Babyington

(source: Reuters)