Canada Keeps ‘Retaliatory’ Tariffs on U.S. Despite Trump Delaying ‘Reciprocal’ Tariffs

(BREITBART)  President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order delaying his planned 25 percent tariffs against Canada and Mexico until April 2.

Canadian officials refused to delay their own retaliatory 25 percent tariffs against U.S. goods.

Trump first declared his intention to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico in February, accusing both countries of not doing enough to secure their border against illegal migrants and the drug trade. He delayed imposing the tariffs until Tuesday, March 4.

The next day, Trump met with executives from the Big Three automakers, then announced he would grant a one-month exemption to the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for the auto industry. Trump advised the auto executives to use that month to “start investing, start moving, shift production here to the United States of America where they will pay no tariff,” as his press secretary Karoline Leavitt put it.

“Automotive production is a major source of United States employment and innovation and is integral to United States economic and national security,” the White House noted. “In order to minimize disruption to the United States automotive industry and automotive workers, it is appropriate to adjust the tariffs.”

On Thursday, two days after saying the tariffs would go into effect, Trump delayed their implementation again. His suspension order covered imports that comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) passed in 2020 during Trump’s first term.

Roughly 38 percent of Canada’s exports to the United States, and 49 percent of Mexico’s, are covered by the USMCA. In Canada’s case, USMCA covers nearly all agricultural products, but not all of Canada’s energy exports to the United States. The U.S. currently gets about 25 percent of its crude oil from Canada.

Trump said on his preferred social media platform, Truth Social, that he decided to delay the tariffs until April 2 after speaking with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

“I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum,” he wrote. “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 did not offer any such encouraging explanation for why he was delaying the Canadian tariffs as well, although he did take a moment out of his day to needle Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for politically exploiting the tariff showdown.

“Believe it or not, despite the terrible job he’s done for Canada, I think that Justin Trudeau is using the Tariff problem, which he has largely caused, in order to run again for Prime Minister. So much fun to watch!” Trump wrote.

Canadian officials appear to be having considerably less fun than the American president. Trump’s call with Trudeau on Wednesday did not go as well as his call with Sheinbaum.

“A senior Canadian government official said the call became heated and Trump used profanity when Trump complained about protections in Canada’s dairy industry. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly about the call, said Trudeau did not use profanity,” the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Trudeau went on to give a public address, one of his last as prime minister, during which he burst into tears.

“We are in a moment right now where Canada has a very, very strong bargaining position, because Canadians are so united and unequivocal about standing up for our country, standing up for our fellow citizens, and being very, very firm that this is an absolutely unjustified and unjustifiable trade war launched by the Americans, and that is what we’re going to continue,” he said.

Canadian Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said that while Canada would pause a second wave of retaliatory tariffs against $125 billion in U.S. goods, the tariffs on $30 billion in goods imposed earlier this week would remain in place.

“Hopefully we’re lining up a conversation and a discussion with the Americans that’s much more coherent,” LeBlanc told Canada’s CBC News on Friday.

“We want to get to a position that we were in two weeks ago, where there are no tariffs applied to the trade between Canada and the United States. It’s a first step. It’s an important step, but we’re not at the end of the road,” he said.

Trump said in his address to Congress on Tuesday night that he would impose reciprocal tariffs on April 2 against all countries that have tariffs against American goods. He humorously said he chose the date because he is a “very superstitious person” and did not want such a major initiative to take effect on April Fool’s Day.

“April 2nd reciprocal tariffs kick in and whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them. That’s reciprocal back and forth. Whatever they tax us, we will tax them,” Trump said.