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US President Donald Trump has suggested that he may still impose tariffs on Canada as early as next month.
Speaking to reporters upon his return to the Oval Office on Monday, Trump expressed concern over the Canadian-Mexico border, repeating his threat to hit both countries with across-the-board tariffs of 25 percent.
“We’re thinking in terms of 25 percent (tariffs) for Mexico and Canada because they’re letting in huge numbers of people … and fentanyl,” Trump said.
“I think we will do it on February 1,” the president said when asked when those tariffs might be implemented.
This is breaking news. The original story is below.
US President Donald Trump will not impose his promised tariffs on Canada, Mexico or China on his first day in office, according to multiple US reports, giving the country some reprieve, at least for now.
Trump, who was sworn in as president just after noon Monday, was considering three options: 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods, 10 percent tariffs on goods from all countries or escalating tariffs that start lower and rise over time, according to Canadian officials.
A Trump administration official confirmed to Reuters that the president would hold off for now and instead direct agencies in a memo to “investigate and correct persistent trade deficits and address unfair trade and currency policies of other countries.”
The memorandum will single out China, Canada and Mexico for scrutiny, but will not announce new tariffs, the official said.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump would hold back on imposing new tariffs on his first day in office, as Canada and other countries that could be targeted had feared.
Trump only mentioned tariffs in passing in his inaugural speech. He said he would “begin an overhaul of our trading system to protect American workers and families” and continue to impose tariffs to “enrich our citizens” as part of a larger plan to usher in a “Golden Age of America.”
A 25 percent tariff would be particularly devastating for Canada. Experts said that only a tax of 10 percent reduce billions of dollars of GDP and potentially push the country into a painful recession that requires government stimulus to prop up the economy.
Canada is poised to impose retaliatory tariffs on the US if Trump ends up moving forward with any trade action. Officials have already drawn up a plan to immediately impose tariffs on $37 billion worth of American goods if Trump moves against Canada.
Treasury Secretary Dominic LeBlanc sounded cautiously optimistic after reports Trump did not have tariffs on his agenda.
“He may have made a decision to kind of stop the threat of tariffs, we’ll wait and see,” LeBlanc said. “It’s our job to make sure we’re ready for any scenario.”
Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, speaking to Adrienne Arsenault after several U.S. media outlets reported that President-elect Donald Trump’s tariffs would not be imposed on Monday, said Canada is ready no matter what.
LeBlanc said he will travel to Washington soon to meet with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s new commerce secretary. He said he would continue to stress to Lutnick that any tariffs on Canada would have negative knock-on effects in the US, fueling inflation and disrupting supply chains.
“It is not in America’s interest,” he said. “We think there is a strong case.”
Two senior government officials told Radio-Canada that the “good news” is that Canada will be spared the tariff today. But the sources stressed that the government remains very cautious because of the uncertainty of what could happen in the days ahead.
A team in the Prime Minister’s Office will study Trump’s executive orders to see what effect, if any, they will have on Canada, the sources said.
Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the US, has been lobbying Trump officials hard for months to drop the tariff plan.
“I woke up this morning thinking, honestly, we really don’t know what’s going to happen and nobody’s giving us any guarantees,” Hillman said.
“But I feel better now than I did then. And I’ll feel even better when we see the details of what he’s asking for in terms of the study,” she said, referring to Trump’s call for a review of unfair trade practices.
Ford worries that Ontario will be a target
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, meanwhile, said he was not reassured by Trump’s decision to delay the tariffs.
“These tariffs are coming,” he said. “Today just adds more uncertainty. I feel like he’s going to target Canada, specifically Ontario. Make no mistake, he’s coming for us. I think it’s a lot worse than it was yesterday.”
Ford has suggested he may soon call an election to get a new mandate from voters to address the threat of tariffs and possible fallout.
While Trump could change course and impose the threatened tariffs at any time, the decision to initially focus on other priorities — like cracking down on migrants and paving the way for more oil and gas drilling — is still something of a win for Canada because it had promised trading action on the first day, shortly after winning the US presidential election in November.
US President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump were greeted by US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden at the White House on Inauguration Day.
In one of his final speeches before Election Day, Trump reintroduced punitive tariffs as a way to force Canada and Mexico to act against drugs and migrants coming to the US
“We’ll give them some time, but we don’t want drugs coming across our border or any border, whether it’s Mexico or Canada or wherever, because now they’re starting in Canada, they’re starting to go up north,” he told the crowd at the Grand Rapids, Mich.
“We will quickly explain to them that if you allow fentanyl and these drugs to come through your country, we will charge you high tariffs on everything you send to the US.”
Ottawa has shown a willingness to work with Trump on the issue, announcing border package worth 1.3 billion dollars this will result in more personnel and technology to better control the 49th parallel.
Canada also has data on its side. US Customs and Border Protection figures show the agency seized just 19.5 kilograms of fentanyl at the northern border last year, compared to a whopping 9,570 kilograms at the southwest.
When it comes to illegal migrants, there is a big difference between Canada and Mexico.
LeBlanc said Canada has “reassured” the new administration that the government here “fully shares their views on fighting illegal fentanyl, fighting organized crime at the border.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Canada “has done a job on the border. It’s all about the border.”
She said Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, gave her and other officials “some good feedback” over the weekend about the $1 billion plan — and that could help Canada keep Trump at bay.
Although he is leaving the tariffs for another day, Trump is expected to issue an executive order on Monday directing agencies to evaluate the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), according to a New York Times report.
Trump has long resented Canada’s supply management system for certain agricultural sectors such as dairy, eggs and poultry — a system he tried and failed to destroy when he negotiated the first iteration of CUSMA. That trilateral trade deal is up for review in 2026, and supply management could be a focal point in those talks.
A separate executive order signals that Trump hasn’t given up on his pro-tariff bent — it will order the federal government to evaluate the feasibility of creating a “foreign revenue service” that could be tasked with collecting tariffs and duties in the future.
Alberta’s Smith wants to drop the revenge story
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who is in Washington for inauguration events, said she was “pleased” to see the president drop the threat of tariffs — at least for now.
“He’s given Canada a reprieve and we’ll see how long that lasts,” Smith said in an interview with CBC News.
Like her federal counterparts, Smith said the fight is not over.
Smith offered a solution to the tariff problems, advice she said was devised after meeting with “dozens of governors, senators, members of Congress and allies of the incoming administration.”
She said the federal government and prime ministers should “focus on diplomacy” and refrain from “further talk of retaliatory measures” such as threatening Canadian tariffs on American goods or cutting off the oil supply.
With U.S. President Donald Trump seemingly backing away from imposing 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith spoke with The National’s Adrienne Arsenault about how tariffs could be avoided in the future and America’s reliance on Alberta oil.
Smith was offside with 12 other prime ministers and Trudeau last week when she refused to sign off on a plan to deal with Trump with possible Canadian countermeasures.
Other prime ministers and the prime minister agreed to use “every tool in the toolbox,” including a possible ban on energy exports as a last resort, to hit back at Trump if he goes ahead with tariffs.
Smith said Monday she was “hurt” that other premiers signed off on a plan that could result in Alberta’s biggest export being used as a stimulus.
But the plan crafted by Ottawa and the premiers required shared sacrifices and didn’t single out Alberta’s oil alone. There was an agreement that no one region or sector would bear the brunt of what happened.
To stay in Trump’s good graces, Smith said Ottawa should strike a deal with the new president to buy more American goods, double down on new border security measures, return immigration levels to those of the pre-Trudeau era, close “loopholes” that allow “enemy” people to enter Canada and speed up military spending in order to reach the NATO goal of two percent of GDP sooner.
