Canada got a three-day reprieve on damaging new American tariffs against billions of goods, with President Trump claiming that a deal was close but Prime Minister Mark Carney saying only that substantial progress had been made.
Mr. Trump announced the delay on imposing 50 percent tariffs in a social media post on Tuesday night, roughly 90 minutes before the midnight deadline. The White House issued a proclamation saying Canada had agreed to make certain trade concessions, and the extra days were needed to finalize those provisions.
“I have paused the 50% Tariffs against Canada, that were scheduled to kick in tomorrow morning for a three day period, based on the fact that Canada and the U.S.A., subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL!” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump has previously announced deals with other countries, only to have them fall through — including a recent series of elapsed agreements with Iran. In a brief statement, Mr. Carney was less definitive about what the talks have produced.
“Over the last number of weeks, Canada has engaged in intensive discussions with the United States to address outstanding trade issues,” he said. “Substantial progress has been made, although there is important work still to be done.”
Reflecting his pivot away from Canada’s economic dependence on the United States, Mr. Carney added: “Canada remains focused on building a stronger, more independent, and more competitive economy at home.”
In a social media post, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, which was carrying out the negotiations, said the deal would “include comprehensive market access for all American goods, economic security commitments, digital trade alignment” and other provisions that would protect the U.S. market.
Entering the negotiations, Mr. Carney said that he was attempting to avert the new tariffs, which, if put in place, would affect hundreds of products that account, by the Trump administration’s estimates, for $20 billion in Canadian exports.
Mr. Carney said last month that “our objective is not to reach a deal whatever it costs” with the United States. But he has also made it clear that Canada would make any agreement contingent on eliminating or reducing tariffs of up to 50 percent on Canadian steel, aluminum and autos introduced last year. Canada also is seeking relief on tariffs against Canadian lumber that date back decades and were increased by Mr. Trump.
The United States, in turn, was looking for an end to the boycotts of American wine and spirits in some provincial alcohol distribution systems that followed Mr. Trump’s earlier tariffs. It was also seeking an end to Canada’s retaliatory tariffs against imports of American automobiles and changes to how some American dairy products are allowed to enter Canada’s largely closed market. In the presidential proclamation, Mr. Trump claimed that Canada had “expressed a commitment” to address all those issues.
Mr. Trump linked the looming agreement to the Keystone XL, a major pipeline project that would have transported oil from Canada to the United States Gulf Coast, but was scrapped by the Biden administration in 2021. The project had been approved during the first Trump administration.
“The great Keystone XL Pipeline, long ago killed by Sleepy Joe Biden, may be awoken from the grave!” Mr. Trump added on his social media post.
Despite being considered largely dead for five years, speculation that a new project, closely mirroring Keystone XL, could return grew this year as a U.S. company filed an application in Montana to build a pipeline bringing in Canadian oil. Mr. Carney had brought up the possibility of resurrecting the project with Mr. Trump during a White House visit last year.
The trade talks have been a prelude to a larger negotiation, over the future of the North American trade agreement. The United States and Mexico have carried out several rounds of talks over the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which Mr. Trump signed in his first term, but has since started to criticize. For U.S. officials, the threat of tariffs has been a way to amass negotiating leverage over the Canadian government, while also forcing Canada to act on trade issues they deem unfair.
While Mr. Carney has pulled back some of Canada’s trade retaliation and made other concessions to the United States, he has seemed far less willing to discuss giving anything more to the United States since Mr. Trump announced the sweeping 50 percent tariffs in July.
Since his return to office, Mr. Trump has started a trade war with Canada that has shredded free-trade agreements going back to 1989 while stoking anger and fear among Canadians. In Canada, frustrations have been expressed in a various ways, including a drastic decline in vacation travel by Canadians to the United States.
In a poll by Abacus Data released on Monday, 74 percent of respondents said that American trade actions had already affected their households, with 30 percent describing the effects as “major.”
While the Supreme Court struck down most of Mr. Trump’s tariffs in February, the steel, aluminum and auto tariffs against Canada were brought under another law that was not covered by that decision. The tariffs now on hold were to be made under another law, an untested trade provision from 1930.
A conversation between Mr. Trump and Mr. Carney resumed trade talks in late July. The United States broke off negotiations last fall on steel, aluminum and autos after the province of Ontario placed television ads in the United States that featured clips of President Ronald Reagan, who signed the 1989 free trade agreement with Canada, warning about the dangers of tariffs.
News of the three-day reprieve brought some relief in Canada, but industry leaders highlighted that the prolonged uncertainty was damaging.
“Let’s be clear: the tariff delay provides relief on both sides of the border,” Candace Laing, who leads the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement. “Businesses may not be closing up shop with this news, but an extension doesn’t bring the certainty that a signed interim deal would,” she added.
In the United States, the chance of a breakthrough on some Canadian measures was eagerly anticipated. In a statement, Chris Swonger, the president of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, said he appreciated Mr. Trump’s effort to restore access for American spirits after more than a year and a half of sales bans.
“These provincial bans have caused exports of American spirits to drop by more than 70 percent, leaving American distillers caught in the middle of a broader trade dispute,” he said.
