President Donald Trump's nominee to run the Commerce Department, Howard Lutnick, said on Wednesday that Canada and Mexico can avoid looming U.S. tariffs if they act swiftly to close their borders to fentanyl,

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.

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