VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday that he and Donald Trump have agreed to intensify negotiations on a trade agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico a day after the U.S. president announced 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods.Carney’s comments came after Trump declared that Canada has unfairly discriminated against American autos, alcohol and dairy products. The new tariffs were scheduled to come into effect 30 days from Monday.“I spoke this morning with the U.S. president and we agreed to deepen and speed up our negotiations over the next few weeks,” Carney said in Ottawa. “Canada will do all that is necessary to support our jobs, our workers, our farmers and to make Canada stronger, more independent and more resilient.”The tariffs could unleash a new wave of economic chaos, with risks of higher inflation and further fraying of relations between two nations that previously had warm, close ties before Trump’s return to the White House. The administration official previewing the action Monday said Canada was one of the only nations other than China that retaliated against Trump’s previous tariffs and must be held accountable.
The US did not renew the US-Mexico-Canada AgreementThe new 50% tariffs would exclude energy products, potash, fish and critical minerals, but would include goods previously protected from import taxes by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. That 2020 trade pact was not renewed by the U.S., triggering a new set of negotiations that could run until 2036.
