(Feb 27): President Donald Trump on Wednesday gave a series of apparently contradictory answers about his plans to enact tariffs on Canada and Mexico, as well as the European Union. 

Trump was asked during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday whether he planned to move forward on imposing 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico on March 4. Trump announced the levies earlier this month, but then subsequently agreed to a month-long delay after leaders from both countries agreed to stricter border control measures. But that delay is set to expire next week.

“I’m not stopping the tariffs,” Trump said, before describing how he believed the US had been victim to years of mistreatment by his neighbors.

But Trump later said that the Mexico and Canada tariffs would be implemented on April 2. It wasn’t clear if the president meant that he was giving the countries additional time, or had conflated the Canada and Mexico tariffs with a separate program, under development by the Commerce Department and US Trade Representative, that would impose so-called reciprocal tariffs on nations across the world.

Trump was also asked later about if he had decided on a specific tariff for the European Union. The president said those duties would be 25%, but then launched into remarks about tariffs on automobiles and other topics. 

A White House official said later Wednesday the deadline for Canada and Mexico tariffs remains March 4 and Trump had not yet decided whether to grant another extension. A report on possible reciprocal tariffs is due at the beginning of April, and those duties could hit Canada and Mexico, but are still separate from the import taxes Trump has threatened related to drug trafficking and illegal immigration, the official said. 

Trump’s proposal for a 25% tariff on the EU is new but all options are being considered on whether those would affect all exports from the bloc or only certain products or sectors, and no decisions have been made, the official added. 

The EU will “react firmly and immediately against unjustified barriers to free and fair trade,” European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said in response to Trump’s comments. 

“We’re ready to partner if you play by the rules. But we will also protect our consumers and businesses at every turn,” said Gill. 

The EU has prepared multiple lists of American goods to hit with retaliatory tariffs if Trump moves forward with levies, modeling various possibilities depending on what the initial US salvo looks like, Bloomberg News reported earlier. The bloc could move quickly by re-applying duties it first imposed on the US during Trump’s first term.

The president’s comments on the timing of tariffs have at times confounded global markets, as he has spoken about several of his tariff plans at the same time in response to reporters’ questions. Mexico’s peso and Canada’s dollar got a boost Wednesday after Trump’s comments that appeared to indicate he was pushing back the tariff deadline on both countries’ imports, indicating investor skepticism over Trump’s policy.

Trump and other administration officials have previously given contradictory answers about whether the 25% Mexico and Canada tariffs would be on top of the so-called reciprocal tariffs, which are pegged to tariff and non-tariff barriers imposed on US goods, or incorporated into the program set to hit in April.

“The tariffs go on, not all of them, but a lot of them,” Trump said Wednesday of the April deadline. “And I think you’re going to see something that’s going to be amazing.”

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick interjected to say Canada and Mexico were given a 30-day reprieve to prove they were successfully stopping the flow of migrants and fentanyl into the US, and “if they have” then Trump would “give them a pause or he won’t.” 

“It’s going to be hard to satisfy,” Trump added, suggesting again that the North America tariffs could hit next week.

In addition to his Canada and Mexico tariffs and worldwide reciprocal tariffs, Trump has previously promised sectoral tariffs on imports of lumber, automobiles, semiconductors, and drugs, among other goods. It again was not clear if Trump on Wednesday was referencing those tariffs — which he has previously said would be at the 25% level — when talkinmg about European duties or an additional tax on EU goods.

Trump did say he viewed the EU as “a different kind of case” from other situations because he viewed the group as having been “formed in order to screw the United States.”

“They’ve really taken advantage of us in a different way,” Trump said.