President Donald Trump talks with reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)2025-01-30T21:31:12Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump said his 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico are coming on Saturday, but hes still considering whether to include oil from those countries as part of his import taxes.We may or may not, Trump told reporters Thursday in the Oval Office about tariffing oil from Canada and Mexico. Were going to make that determination probably tonight.Trump said his decision will be based on whether the price of oil charged by the two trading partners is fair, although the basis of his threatened tariffs pertains to stopping illegal immigration and the smuggling of chemicals used for fentanyl.The risk of tariffs on Canadian and Mexican oil could undermine Trumps repeated pledge to lower overall inflation by reducing energy costs. Costs associated with tariffs could be passed along to consumers in the form of higher gasoline prices an issue that Trump placed at the center of his Republican presidential campaign as he vowed to halve energy costs within one year. One year from Jan. 20, we will have your energy prices cut in half all over the country, Trump said at a 2024 town hall in Pennsylvania. AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of the electorate, found that 80% of voters identified gas prices as a concern. Trump won nearly 6 in 10 voters who said they worried about prices at the pump.The United States imported almost 4.6 million barrels of oil daily from Canada in October and 563,000 barrels from Mexico, according to the Energy Information Administration. U.S. daily production during that month averaged nearly 13.5 million barrels a day. Matthew Holmes, executive vice president and chief of public policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said Trumps tariffs would tax America first in the form of higher costs.This is a lose-lose, Holmes said. We will keep working with partners to show President Trump and Americans that this doesnt make life any more affordable. It makes life more expensive and sends our integrated businesses scrambling. But Trump showed no concerns that import taxes on the United States trading partners would have a negative impact on the U.S. economy, despite the risk shown in many economic analyses of higher prices.We dont need the products that they have, Trump said. We have all the oil you need. We have all the trees you need, meaning the lumber.The president also said that China would pay tariffs for its exporting of the chemicals used to make fentanyl. He has previously stated a 10% tariff that would be on top of other import taxes charged on products from China.Oil prices were trading at roughly $73 a barrel on Thursday afternoon. Prices spiked in June 2022 under President Joe Biden to more than $120 per barrel, a period that overlapped with overall inflation hitting a four-decade high that fueled a broader sense of public dissatisfaction with the Democratic administration. Gas prices are averaging $3.12 a gallon across the United States, roughly the same price as a year ago, according to AAA.___ JOSH BOAK Boak covers the White House and economic policy for The Associated Press. He joined the AP in 2013. twitter mailto