Trump drops plan to double tariffs on Canadian metal imports

LAST UPDATE | 15 hrs ago

TRUMP HAS BACKED down from a plan to double tariffs for Canadian imports to 50% today, White House staff have confirmed.

White House senior counselor Peter Navarro said this afternoon that the US President was no longer planning to double steel and aluminum tariffs for Canadian imports, following talks with its northern neighbour.

This means that imports of both metals from Canada, like those from other trading partners, would face a 25% tariff after midnight as originally planned.

The trade dispute between the US and Canada took a new twist earlier this afternoon when US President Trump said he planned to double the incoming steel and aluminium tariffs on Canadian imports from 25% to 50%.

The significant jump would take effect “tomorrow morning”, he said earlier.

Trump’s statement came after the Canadian province of Ontario imposed an electricity surcharge on three US states.

In response, Trump has threatened to wage further tariffs on car imports that he believes would “permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada”.

He also repeated his threat of making Canada part of the US, saying that Canada would become the US’s “cherished fifty-first state.”

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The premier of Ontario Doug Ford and Trump’s Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick met today and had what Ford described as a “productive conversation about the economic relationship between the United States and Canada”.

Relations between the US and Canada have taken a sour turn since Trump’s inauguration in January.

The neighbouring countries have had friendly relations since Canada gained autonomy from Britain in the 1800s.

However, Trump’s threats about tariffs and territory since his return to the White House have deeply changed the nature of the US-Canada relationship. 

The escalation in the trade war comes as Taoiseach Micheál Martin prepares to meet Trump in the White House tomorrow as part of the itinerary for his St Patrick’s Day trip.

The Taoiseach is due to visit US President Donald Trump in the White House tomorrow, where the two will briefly appear together in front of media before retreating to a private meeting that is scheduled to last nearly an hour.

Martin will be the first European leader to sit down with Trump in the Oval Office since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s tumultuous meeting last month.

The pressure is on for the Taoiseach to navigate the situation smoothly if contentious topics are raised tomorrow.

Trump has previously threatened to also impose tariffs on the EU.

Additional reporting from AFP

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