OTTAWA—Canada will scrap its retaliatory tariffs on American goods that comply with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement, Prime Minister Mark Carney says, one day after he held his first official call with U.S. President Donald Trump in nearly two months.
“Canada currently has the best trade deal with the United States. While it is different from what we had before, it is still better than that of any country,” Carney said at a Friday news conference on Parliament Hill, following a virtual meeting of his cabinet.
The prime minister said it was “vital” that Canada do anything it can to “preserve this unique advantage” while working on a revised CUSMA and “developing a new form of trade and security partnership” with the U.S.
“In this context … I am announcing today that the Canadian government will now match the United States by removing all of Canada’s tariffs on U.S. goods specifically covered under CUSMA,” Carney told reporters.
The move will come into effect Sept. 1.
In March, Canada imposed 25 per cent tariffs on $30 billion in goods imported from the U.S. in response to Trump’s border tariffs.
Carney and Trump spoke Thursday — their first formal conversation since late June, when Canada rescinded its Digital Services Tax — a conversation a government source told the Star was “lengthy and substantive” and initiated by Canada’s prime minister.
An official readout of the call from the Prime Minister’s Office said the pair discussed, among other issues, the ongoing trade dispute and “shared priorities in a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the U.S.”
