3 hours ago
3
Canada secured a 30-day postponement in the application of US tariffs on its exports on Monday afternoon just hours before they were scheduled to go into effect after a call between Canadian PM Trudeau and President Trump yielded a
border deal
that seemed to satisfy both leaders.
Trudeau had earlier pledged to retaliate against US tariffs by imposing tariffs against US goods, too. In the end, he seemed to make modest concessions to Trump on the border policies, including thousands of "front-line'" personnel stationed at the border.
"I just had a good call with President Trump," Trudeau said in a social media post that laid out the terms of the agreement. "Proposed tariffs will be paused for at least 30 days while we work together."
The deal brought relief and de-escalation into what had turned into a brewing trade war between the two close allies and top trading partners, although its 30-day horizon did indicate more negotiations might need to take place down the line.
Specifically, Trudeau said that Canada would create a new position for a fentanyl czar and redouble its efforts to tackle the opioid crisis - one that kills Canadians daily - by listing cartels and gangs as terrorist entities, like Trump has said he wants to do in the US. Canada would commit 200 million Canadian dollars (about $139m) to fresh intelligence-gathering efforts around the fentanyl and drug trade, Trudeau said.
He also said that as part of the agreement with Trump, Canada would continue to implement a new border-tightening plan that it had announced weeks earlier. That involves the expenditure of CA$1.3 billion in fresh funds over the next several years, the deployment of new technology at the borders and the deployment of more border guards. "Nearly 10,000 front-line personnel are and will be working on protecting the border," Trudeau said.
The postponement brought relief to several Canadian industries that were facing severe disruptions if the tariffs had come into effect just after midnight Tuesday. nyt
