OTTAWA: Canada will continue to be in a trade war with the United States (US) for “the foreseeable future” even if there are “breaks for certain sectors,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday.
“Our goal remains to get these tariffs, all tariffs removed,” Trudeau said, one day after an urgent call with US President Donald Trump to try to avoid plunging the two neighbors into what he called an “unjustified” trade war.
Discussions with the Trump administration were ongoing, he added.
“As I’ve said a number of times, we will not be backing down from our response tariffs until such a time as the unjustified American tariffs on Canadian goods are lifted,” he said.
And so, he added, “we will continue to be in a trade war that was launched by the United States for the foreseeable future.”
On Tuesday, Trump made good on his promise to slap 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports into the United States.
Canadian oil shipments were hit with lower 10 percent duties.
Ottawa immediately hit back with counter tariffs on $30 billion worth of American products, which is set to rise to $155 billion.
Trudeau spoke for almost an hour with Trump on Wednesday, describing their discussion “colorful, but substantive.”
Trump however concluded that Canada’s efforts to curb migrants and fentanyl coming into the United States were insufficient, which he has linked to his tariffs.
At the same time, he granted a one-month exemption for the auto sector, which is highly integrated across Canada, the United States and Mexico, at the request of American manufacturers.
Shortly after Trudeau spoke Thursday, Trump said he was pausing many of the sweeping tariffs he imposed on Mexican imports after talks with President Claudia Sheinbaum, citing their positive relationship.
Earlier in the day, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said goods and services compliant with the USMCA trade pact would “likely” receive a one-month exclusion from Trump’s tariffs.
This “is a promising sign,” Trudeau commented, adding: “but it means that the tariffs remain in place, and therefore our response will remain in place.”
