Long-threatened tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump have plunged the country into a global trade war — all while on-again, off-again new levies continue to escalate uncertainty. Trump is no stranger to tariffs. He launched a trade war during his first term, taking particular aim at China by putting taxes on most of its goods. Beijing responded with its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products ranging from fruit to automotive imports. Trump also used the threat of more tariffs to force Canada and Mexico to renegotiate a North American trade pact, called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, in 2020. When President Joe Biden took office, he preserved most of the tariffs Trump previously enacted against China, in addition to imposing some new restrictions — but his administration claimed to take a more targeted approach. Fast-forward to today and economists stress there could be greater consequences on businesses and economies worldwide under Trump’s more sweeping tariffs this time around — and that higher prices will likely leave consumers footing the bill. There’s also been a sense of whiplash from Trump’s back-and-forth tariff threats and responding retaliation, including some recently-postponed taxes on goods from America’s largest trading partners. Here’s a timeline of how we got here: January 20 Trump is sworn into office. In his inaugural address, he again promises to “tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.” And he reiterates plans to create an agency called the External Revenue Service, which has yet to be established. On his first day in office, Trump also says he expects to put 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting on Feb. 1, while declining to immediately flesh out plans for taxing Chinese imports. January 26 Trump threatens 25% tariffs on all Colombia imports and other retaliatory measures after President Gustavo Petro’s rejects two U.S. military aircraft carrying migrants to the country, accusing Trump of not treating immigrants with dignity during deportation. In response, Petro also announces a retaliatory 25% increase in Colombian tariffs on U.S. goods. But Colombia later reversed its decision and accepted the flights carrying migrants. The two countries soon signaled a halt in the trade dispute. February 1 Trump signs an executive order to impose tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China — 10% on all imports from China and 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada starting Feb. 4. Trump invoked this power by declaring a national emergency — ostensibly over undocumented immigration and drug trafficking. The levies on Canada and Mexico threaten to blow up Trump’s own USMCA trade deal, which allowed many products to cross North American borders duty free. The action prompts swift outrage from all three countries, with promises of retaliatory measures. February 3 Trump agrees to a 30-day pause on his tariff threats against Mexico and Canada, with both trading partners taking steps to appease Trump’s concerns about border security and drug trafficking. February 4 Trump’s new 10% tariffs on all Chinese imports to the U.S. still go into effect. China retaliates the same day by announcing a flurry of countermeasures, including sweeping new duties on a variety of American goods and an anti-monopoly investigation into Google. China’s 15% tariffs on coal and liquefied natural gas products, and a 10% levy on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars imported from the U.S., take effect Feb. 10. February 10 Trump announces plans to hike steel and aluminum tariffs. He removes the exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on steel, meaning that all steel imports will be taxed at a minimum of 25%, and also raises his 2018 aluminum tariffs to 25% from […]