Canada and Mexico have retaliated against US tariffs imposed on the two nations.

US President Donald Trump this weekend leveled 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, with the exception of Canadian oil exports at ten percent.

Tariffs are paid by the importer, not the exporting nation.

Canada’s outgoing Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, said that the country would hit back with a 25 percent tariff phased in across C$155bn ($107bn) worth of US products across the next three weeks.

More measures are being considered, including curbing or taxing energy exports to the US.

“We don’t want to be here. We didn’t ask for this," he said.

Addressing Americans, he added: “Tariffs against Canada will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American auto assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities.

"They will raise costs for you including food at the grocery store and gas at the pump. They will impede your access to an affordable supply of vital goods crucial for US security, such as nickel, potash, uranium, steel, and aluminum.”

Trudeau reminded the nation that Canadian troops fought alongside them in Afghanistan and helped them respond to the wildfires in California and Hurricane Katrina. 158 Canadian Armed Forces personnel died in Afghanistan.

“From the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of the Korean Peninsula, from the fields of Flanders to the streets of Kandahar, we have fought and died alongside you during your darkest hours,” he said.

In response, Trump said that "Canada should become our Cherished 51st State."

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also announced counter-tariffs, which the US has claimed are aimed at stopping the spread and manufacturing of the opioid fentanyl.

"We categorically reject the White House's slander that the Mexican government has alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any intention of meddling in our territory," Sheinbaum said.

"If the United States government and its agencies wanted to address the serious fentanyl consumption in their country, they could fight the sale of drugs on the streets of their major cities, which they don't do, and the laundering of money that this illegal activity generates that has done so much harm to its population."

The scale of tariffs planned by Mexico has yet to be disclosed.

China, which Trump hit with a ten percent tariff, said it will “take necessary countermeasures to defend its rights and interests." It plans to file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization.

Trump has also threatened tariffs against the European Union, Denmark, and semiconductors.