"We have a deal": Two hours before taking effect - Donald Trump froze tariffs on Canada
Following a second conversation this week with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the US President announced that he is suspending for three days the imposition of 50% tariffs on Canadian imports so that the parties can sign a new agreement.
US President Donald Trump announced early this morning (between Tuesday and Wednesday) that he is delaying by three days the imposition of 50% tariffs on additional products from Canada, moments before they were supposed to take effect.
"Subject to the completion of the drafting of the documents, we have a deal," Donald Trump wrote on his social network Truth Social - less than two hours before the scheduled activation time of the tariffs.
Donald Trump also announced that following the talks, the joint oil pipeline project of the two countries, Keystone XL, which was frozen during the Joe Biden administration, might be renewed. The announcement came following a conversation between Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. This is the second time this week that the two have spoken, after Mark Carney had previously promised to respond with similar measures if the tariffs took effect. On Monday, Mark Carney described the negotiations as "intense and very delicate."
The planned tariffs were supposed to apply to Canadian imports worth about 20 billion dollars, including vehicles, dairy products, and alcohol - goods that were supposed to be protected under the free trade agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada (USMCA) from 2020, which Donald Trump signed himself. A counter-reaction from Mark Carney could have reignited the trade war that broke out following Donald Trump's "liberation day" in April last year, although a significant portion of the tariffs imposed have since been invalidated in the courts. The US Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump's broadest global tariffs in February, and in response, the president announced a new 10% global tariff that would apply to all countries.
More than 75% of Canadian exports are destined for the United States, and every day Canadian goods worth about 3.6 billion Canadian dollars cross the border. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians also live in the United States. Donald Trump's approach toward Canada in his second term represents an unusual departure from the traditional and cooperative attitude of previous US presidents toward the northern neighbor, and both Mark Carney and his predecessor Justin Trudeau have not shied away from taking a firm line against Washington.
