President Trump Delays Tariffs Against Canada

President Donald Trump said Tuesday, via Truth Social, he was delaying the 50% U.S. tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports after the two nations reportedly reached a deal hours before the tariffs were slated to go into effect. The announcement buys time for more negotiations and avoids, for now, another strain between the U.S. and Canada.

Trade Tensions Remain Between The Two Close Allies

Those tariffs, had they gone into effect as scheduled at 12:01 a.m. EDT Wednesday, import taxes would have hit Canadian products ranging from hockey sticks to tongue depressors.

But the political impact would likely have been bigger than the economic one. Canada had threatened to retaliate against any new tariffs with levies of its own, aggravating a trade fight between countries that sold each other $880 billion worth of goods and services last year. According to NBC News, a White House proclamation said Canada had expressed a commitment to remove measures the Trump administration considers discriminatory against U.S. alcohol, dairy and motor vehicle exports. However, Canada did not immediately confirm those commitments.

In that social media post Trump also noted the Keystone XL pipeline, “may be awoken from the grave!” But again, few details were offered.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement “substantial progress” had been made but that important work remained, confirming Canada had agreed to the three-day delay while negotiations continued.

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