UNITED States President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to impose a 25 percent tariff on all products coming into the US from Canada and Mexico from his first day in office, a move that would significantly impact North American supply chains.

The New York Times and other media are this morning reporting that Mr Trump plans to sign an executive order imposing a punitive tariff on all products arriving in the US from Mexico and Canada.

“As one of my many first Executive Orders, on January 20 I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25pc tariff on all products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Trump said in a post on social media.

He said the tariffs would remain in place until the two countries clamp down on drugs, particularly fentanyl, and migrants crossing the border into the US illegally.

In a follow-up post, Mr Trump announced that the US “will be charging China an additional 10pc tariff, above any additional tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America.”

Both Canada’s live cattle and beef exports have grown as the US enters its own herd rebuilding phase after drought.

Canada anticipates exporting around 750,000 head of non-dairy feeder and slaughter cattle to the US in calendar 2024 – the highest number seen since 2015. Canadian beef exports to all markets this year are forecast to reach 595,000t – around 80pc of which is destined for customers in the US.

There has been speculation for some time that a Trump-led US Government would re-apply protectionist tariffs on a range of imported products, including red meat. Click here to view an earlier report.

President elect Trump previously pledged to end China’s most-favored-nation trading status and slap tariffs of more than 60pc on Chinese imports – much higher than those imposed during his first term in office.

Canada’s deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland released a statement on Monday evening saying that her country placed the highest priority on border security and the integrity of its shared border with the US.

The statement did not mention the tariffs directly. It also said that the Canada Border Services Agency, the US Drug Enforcement Administration and US Customs and Border protection “work together every single day to to disrupt the scourge of fentanyl coming from China and other countries.”

Former US Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, warned that tariffs did not work in the way Mr Trump intended. “A tariff is basically a sales tax, raising the price of almost everything you buy. It’s also regressive – taking a higher percentage out of the paychecks of working people than out of the wealthy,” he posted on social media.