joe biden standing and giving a speech
(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

‘…begin to screw up those relationships’: Trump’s aggression towards Mexico and Canada isn’t impressing a former president

Donald Trump is planning to implement tariffs that are going to hurt all Americans. Now, Joe Biden is hoping that the President-elect would re-evaluate his stance on tariffs to two important American allies.

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While Biden was at a fire station in Nantucket, Massachusetts, he gave his opinion on Trump’s tariff plan. Trump revealed on Truth Social that he was putting a blanket tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico of 25%. “This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” Trump said on his social media app. This does nothing but hurt American consumers.

While many Americans are concerned about the price of things, Biden things that Trump doing this is going to hurt the relationship between America and these two countries. “I hope he rethinks it, and I think it’s a counterproductive thing to do,” Biden said according to NBC News. “The last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships.”

Trump had, during his campaign, insinuated that the tariffs would also extend to goods from China. Already Trump’s stance on goods from Canada and Mexico is leading to the leaders of both countries to speak out against the President-elect.

Trump tried to say that Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, agreed to closing the border. She did not. Responding to a post he made on Truth Social, Sheinbaum pushed back on his statement. “In our conversation with President Trump, I explained to him the comprehensive strategy that Mexico has followed to address the migration phenomenon, respecting human rights,” she said on X. “We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but instead build bridges between government and people.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also issued a statement via X.

Should we all be concerned?

Biden was objectively more concerned with the relationship between America and our neighbors to the north and south. Which that is fine from a political standpoint. But how worried should the average American consumer be? Economists, according to NBC News, have been talking about the tariffs and the fear of it trickling down to the consumer and that is terrifying.

The entire reason Trump was elected by some of his base was because of the price of groceries. I wish I was lying. That’s what many voters said was the reason for voting for him. So if this tariff situation happens, are the price of groceries going up? Is everything going to be more expensive and all those “but the price of eggs!” voters wasted their votes on nothing?

Quite frankly, the fear of what is going to happen in a second Trump presidency is the worst feeling. We don’t know how much of Project 2025 he is going to enact, we do not know what these tariffs will do to us as consumers, and we just have to live in that fear for the next four years. I don’t have hope that Biden’s message will bring any kind of sense to Trump but…at least he’s trying.

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Rachel Leishman
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Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.