WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he would impose tariffs on a wide range of imports, including oil and metals, in the coming months, expanding his plans to enact sweeping trade levies well beyond those set to hit China, Canada and Mexico on Saturday.

“We’ll be doing pharmaceuticals and drugs, medicines, etc, all forms of medicine and pharmaceuticals. And we’ll be doing very importantly steel and we’ll also be doing chips and things associated with chips,” Trump said Friday from the Oval Office where he was signing an executive order on deregulation.

“We’re going to put tariffs on chips. We’re going to put tariffs on oil and gas. That will happen very soon, I think about the 18th of February. And we’re going to put a lot of tariffs on steel,” he added.

Trump said there was nothing Canada, Mexico or China could do to forestall the more immediate levies, a response to what he says is a failure by those nations to prevent the flow of undocumented migrants and illegal drugs, like fentanyl, across U.S. borders. And Trump told reporters that the U.S. would “be doing something very substantial” with tariffs targeting the European Union.

Trump’s comments from the Oval Office reveal that even as he’s set to impose tariffs on the U.S.’s biggest trade partners on Saturday, he’s beginning to look ahead to expanding them to other targets he’s frequently mentioned, including the EU and also the commodity and technology sectors that the U.S. competes in.

Oil rose in late trading after Trump’s comments. West Texas Intermediate advanced to $73.33 at 4 p.m. in New York after earlier settling at $72.53. Copper futures in New York briefly erased some of the day’s losses.

Trump on Friday said the coming tariffs would stack on top of any existing levies. But he also indicated he would look to lower the rate on oil in the tariffs planned for Saturday. Trump has vowed a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on China.

“I’m probably going to reduce the tariff a little bit on that. We think we’re going to bring it down to 10%,” Trump said.

Further tariffs targeting oil and gas could come on Feb. 18, he added.

Trump has previously pledged sectoral tariffs — on chips, pharmaceuticals, steel, aluminum and copper — as a bid to reshape supply chains and force manufacturers to shift production to the U.S., but had not specified when they would take effect. Friday’s comments indicate that the president aims to move quickly on those levies.

Price worries

The tariff threats could expand. Trump has also ordered reports, due April 1, on overall trade issues and tariffs, that could lead him to trigger new levies or to quit the continental trade pact he renegotiated with Canada and Mexico in his first term. And his administration is investigating whether China complied with a trade deal struck in his first term, setting the stage for tariffs against the world’s second largest economy.

“The China-U.S. economic ties are essentially mutually beneficial and win-win. If there are differences and frictions between the two sides, they should be resolved through dialogue and consultation,” said Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington. “There is no winner in a trade war or tariff war, which serves the interests of neither side nor the world.”

Economists warn tariffs would raise the cost of imported materials used by U.S. manufacturers, hike prices for American consumers already uneasy about inflation, and reduce global trade flows.

Nevertheless, the U.S. president is an avowed believer in tariffs, insisting that they will bring about a renaissance in domestic manufacturing. And he has touted tariffs as a source of revenue as he seeks to renew and expand expiring tax cuts and approve a host of other credits and benefits.

Trump said he was not concerned about warnings from economists that tariffs would fuel price growth, a concern for voters which helped propel him back to the White House in last November’s election.

“Tariffs don’t cause inflation,” Trump insisted.

‘Tariff wall’

And he likened the trade barriers to a physical wall — similar to one he championed along the U.S.-Mexico border his first term and is looking to resume construction of in this administration.

“We’ll be doing pharmaceuticals to bring our industry back. We want to bring pharmaceuticals back to the country, and the way you bring it back to the country is by putting up a wall — and the wall is a tariff wall,” Trump said.

Trump’s decision on whether to go ahead with the sweeping tariffs he made a centerpiece of his 2024 presidential campaign has been closely watched by markets roiled by uncertainly over whether he will follow through on his pledges or simply use the promised levies to bring trading partners to the negotiating table.

Some business and political leaders had held out hope that Trump would adopt a more moderate stance on tariffs once he actually assumed office.

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(With assistance from Josh Wingrove and Simon Casey.)

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