U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a one-month reprieve on some of the tariffs he imposed on Canada and Mexico just two days ago. The extension to April 2 will extend to goods covered by the USMCA trade deal, the White House said Thursday.
Trump made the executive actions following negotiations between his administration and the Trudeau government Thursday.
Earlier Thursday, Trump spoke about a deferral he was granting for Mexico, then later followed suit on the Canadian tariffs too.
“Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl,” Trump wrote about his Mexican counterpart, President Claudia Sheinbaum.” Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!”
Trump also accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of “using the Tariff problem, which he has largely caused, in order to run again for Prime Minister.”
Trump initially announced the reprieve for only Mexico but not Canada before eventually granting one for Canada, too.
Trudeau told reporters that he expects Canada and the U.S. to be in a trade war for the foreseeable future and that all retaliatory tariffs were to remain in place unless the United States completely walks back its tariffs, not just temporarily.
Roughly 36 per cent of Canadian imports are not covered under USMCA but a White House official said that going forward they will be treated at customs as if they were.
For example, USMCA covers autos, which were already granted a one-month reprieve by Trump on Wednesday. However, Canadian energy is not included in the agreement, with the White House saying it will retain its 10% tariff.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said his province is implementing a 25% tariff on electricity exports to 1.5 million Americans’ homes in Minnesota, Michigan and New York next week.
“It really bothers me we have to do this,” said Ford in an interview with CNN Thursday. “Let’s just drop these tariffs. Let’s renegotiate the USMCA deal that he created. It hasn’t changed since he was in office, and he said it was the greatest deal ever.”
Ford threatened to cut off Ontario energy exports to the United States outright and would do so “with a smile on my face” earlier this week if Trump didn’t back down on his tariffs on Canadian imports.
The stock exchange took a dramatic drop early Thursday morning before Trump announced the reprieve.
“The fact that the stock market goes up or down a half per cent every day is not the driver of our outcomes,” said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in a statement. “Our outcomes are driven by: We want factory production in America, we want employment to blossom in America, we want to train for the new AI industrial revolution to happen in America, we’re going to bring factories back to America.”