President Donald Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, billionaire financial-services executive Howard Lutnick, made an effort Wednesday to ease concerns about potentially inflationary 25% tariffs against Canada and Mexico that could hit Saturday.

U.S. President Donald Trump still plans to make good on his promise to issue tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Saturday, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.

Lutnick said Trump's Saturday deadline for imposing 25 per cent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico was meant to pressure the two countries to stop the flow of fentanyl into the US