Trump's Massive Tariffs Would 'Screw-Up' Ties with Canada, Mexico Amid 'Unusual Situation': Biden

Washington: After President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to impose tariffs on several nations, US President Joe Biden expressed hope that President-elect would reconsider, warning that such a move could 'screw up' relations with close allies Mexico and Canada.

"I hope he rethinks it. I think it's a counterproductive thing to do," Biden said to the reporters in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he is spending the Thanksgiving Day holiday with his family.

"We have an unusual situation in America - we're surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and two allies: Mexico and Canada. And the last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships.", said Biden

Trump on Monday informed that he would impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico until they clamped down on drugs and migrants crossing the border, in a move that would appear to violate the US-Mexico-Canada free-trade deal.

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday she did not specifically discuss tariffs in a call she held with Trump on Wednesday, adding the two had agreed there would be good relations between the two nations.

Following the call, Trump said Sheinbaum had "agreed to stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border."

Sheinbaum, however, said she had laid out a strategy that "attended to" migrants before they reached the US border.

Biden, who met with Trump at the White House earlier this month, reiterated that he wanted the transition between his outgoing administration and the president-elect's incoming one to go smoothly. 

With inputs from Reuters