US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Washington would apply previously delayed tariffs against Mexico and Canada, Deutsche Welle (DW) reported.
The 25% tariffs were due to come into effect at 0501 UTC on Tuesday. Trump had ordered a 30-day delay on the tariffs early last month.
Trump indicated he was not willing to give the two North American countries an extension of the delay, DW reported.
"No room left for Mexico or for Canada," Trump told reporters on Monday. "The tariffs, you know, they're all set, they go into effect tomorrow," he said.
Energy resources from Canada are to have a lower 10% levy under the tariff regime. US stocks closed sharply lower in afternoon trading following Trump's comments.
Trump also said that reciprocal tariffs against countries imposing duties on US products would come into effect on April 2. Besides the levies on its two neighbors, Trump also imposed 10% tariffs on Chinese products in February. The rate is set to rise to 20% on Tuesday.
Washington's measures have sparked fears of a trade war in deeply integrated economies in North America. Trump has said he also plans to impose 25% tariffs on goods from the European Union, DW said in its report.
Canada responded in kind, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowing retaliatory tariffs. "Should American tariffs come into effect tonight, Canada will, effective 12:01 a.m. EST tomorrow, respond with 25% tariffs against $155 billion of American goods," the Canadian prime minister said in a statement, reported DW.
Trudeau added that "there is no justification" for Washington's actions.
According to DW, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly earlier on Monday had said that Canada was prepared to respond to Washington's measure. "There's a level of unpredictability and chaos that comes out of the Oval Office, and we will be dealing with it," she told reporters.
"If Trump is imposing tariffs, we are ready," she said. "We are ready with $155 billion worth of tariffs and we're ready with the first tranche of tariffs, which is $30 billion."
She said that Ottawa had developed a border plan that it had presented to the Trump administration last week.
Trump had demanded that the US' neighbors enhance border security and work harder to combat the distribution of illicit drugs, including fentanyl, reported the Berlin-based news channel.