US President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday evening US time that his team was discussing a 10% tariff on China and that the duty could take effect as early as February 1.

“We’re talking about a tariff of 10% on China based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada,” the president said, speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday evening.

At the time of taking office on Monday, Trump had also mentioned that his team is talking of levying a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada.

“We’re thinking in terms of 25% (levies) on Mexico and Canada, because they’re allowing a vast number of people” over the border, he said on Monday.

The President had spoken of levying tariffs as high as 60% on China during his campaign but refrained from making any such announcements during his post-inauguration address. He had also called for an additional 10% levy on China in a post on Truth Social in November last year.

Trump spoke to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping days before his second inauguration, in a call in which they discussed trade, fentanyl and ByteDance Ltd.’s social media app TikTok.

“We didn’t talk too much about tariffs, other than he knows where I stand,” Trump said Tuesday, defending his approach to the issue.

“Look, I put large tariffs on China. I’ve taken in hundreds of billions of dollars. Until I was president, China never paid not 10 cents to the United States,” he said.

(With Inputs From Agencies.)