Trump’s oil tariffs and their global impact

Among the executive orders to be signed on day one of his incoming presidency, the maverick US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico. The tariff would also be levied on crude oil until these countries stop the inflow of illegal “immigrants and drugs fentanyl into the US”. Canada and Mexico are the two top sources of US crude oil imports, accounting for around a quarter of the total oil US refiners process into fuels like gasoline and heating oil, according to the US Department of Energy. The US imported about 5.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and petroleum products from Canada and Mexico in 2024. Out of it, more than 4m barrels of oil came from Canada, and data from the US government’s statistical arm, the Energy Information Agency, showed that, as per a Canada Energy Regulator report in August, 97pc of Canadian crude oil exports went to the US. Most of this oil travels through pipelines to US oil refineries in the Midwest.