President Donald Trump is poised to unleash his first wave of tariffs Saturday, sending foreign governments and businesses rushing to skirt potential duties and prepare for retaliation.

US President Donald Trump has said he will follow through with his threat to hit imports from Canada and Mexico with 25% border taxes, known as tariffs, on 1 February. But he added that a decision about whether this would include oil from those countries has not yet been made.

The president reiterated that tariffs are coming, even as his advisers are considering several offramps to avoid enacting universal tariffs on Mexico and Canada, people familiar with the matter say.