Trump Wields U.S. Power With Unclear Economic Consequences

President Trump is brandishing the U.S. economy like a weapon, threatening to put more than a trillion dollars of trade on the line with economic wars on multiple fronts.

In a high-stakes confrontation that lasted over the weekend and into Monday, Mr. Trump promised to put tariffs on the United States’ closest trading partners, which are together responsible for more than 40 percent of American imports, to try to force them to accede to his demands.

Mr. Trump was pushing Canada, Mexico and China to stop flows of migrants at the border — one of his major domestic policy issues — as well as to stem shipments of deadly drugs, and offer the United States better terms when it comes to trade relationships.

Both Canada and Mexico earned slight reprieves on Monday after Mr. Trump agreed to delay tariffs of 25 percent — which were supposed to go into effect on Tuesday — for a month. That decision came after President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico promised to reinforce the U.S.-Mexico border with 10,000 members of its National Guard. Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, said Canada would appoint a fentanyl czar, launch a joint strike force to combat organized crime and list cartels as terrorists, among other steps.

China has not received any such reprieve and Mr. Trump on Monday said that the 10 percent tariffs that will go into effect on Tuesday were simply an “opening salvo.”

Speaking from the Oval Office, the president also made clear that he would use tariffs liberally to get other governments to give him what he wants, essentially saying he would leverage America’s economic strength to bully other nations.