Trump pauses tariffs on Canada… again

Trump paused tariffs on goods covered by CUSMA, but Trudeau wants to see all tariffs removed

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would pause tariffs on Canadian goods for a month.

While the reprieve is welcome, the events of the last week show just how damaging tariffs could be for both countries. The continued uncertainty around the tariffs won’t help matters. And in a news conference on Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would push ahead with retaliatory tariffs and other measures until Trump backs off completely.

CNN reports that Trump signed executive actions on Thursday to delay tariffs on Canada and Mexico until April 2. Specifically, the relief applies to all products covered by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

This is the second time Trump has put a pause on tariffs.

However, Trump said he would continue with 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports next week — Canada is the top exporter of both metals to the U.S. It remains to be seen what Ontario Premier Doug Ford does with nickel, which is a key material in stainless steel production and batteries. Ford previously threatened to halt nickel shipments to the U.S.

Per CBC News, Trudeau had a “colourful” 50-minute call with Trump on Wednesday that ultimately led to the relief. However, Trudeau said that Trump seems committed to tariffs in the long-term, saying Canada would be in an American-led trade war “for the foreseeable future.”

A senior government official shared additional details with the CBC about the call, noting that Trump used profanity while discussing dairy products — a long-running sore spot for the U.S. — and became animated while discussing fentanyl.

Trump has repeatedly used fentanyl as a justification for the tariffs despite successful Canadian efforts to tamp down on the drug. Trudeau even pointed to the U.S. government’s own border seizure data, which shows Canada isn’t a significant source of fentanyl coming into the country.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data shows only 10lbs of fentanyl has been seized at the U.S.-Canada border so far this year. 2024 had the highest amount of fentanyl seized at 43lbs. CBP only seized 2lbs in 2023 and 14lbs in 2024. So far this year, CBP has seized 5,400lbs of fentanyl at the southern border and 162lbs at coastal and interior borders.

Header image credit: Shutterstock

Source: CNN, CBC

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