U.S. President Donald Trump said on social media Thursday morning that he’ll be unveiling reciprocal tariffs later in the day.
While it’s unclear whether Canada will be affected, the post on Truth Social sent another jolt of uncertainty into Canadian business groups already reeling from other tariff threats.
“It’s like every day for the last two weeks. We’re all waiting to see and waiting to find out what this actually means — what happens versus what he actually says,” said Matthew Holmes, chief of public policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. “It’s clear that he’s weaponizing trade uncertainty — that’s very clear, and that is damaging.”
“TODAY IS THE BIG ONE: RECIPROCAL TARIFFS!!!” Trump posted on his social media site, Truth Social. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
Trump later posted that there would be a news conference in the Oval Office on the tariffs Thursday afternoon, raising questions about whether he’s formally signing the tariffs as he previously said he would do or simply making the broader case for them to U.S. voters with plans to study and formulate a detailed set of policies.
Earlier this week, Trump signed an executive order imposing 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports as of March 12. He later said they’d be on top of 25 per cent tariffs already scheduled to take effect on all imports from Canada and Mexico scheduled to take effect March 4.
With files from The Associated Press.
This is a developing story.
