OTTAWA — Tariffs on Canadian imports by U.S. President Donald Trump have been paused for at least 30 days.
The latest development was posted to X (formerly Twitter) by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after a phone call with Trump Monday afternoon.
Trump had threatened to impose tariffs of 25 per cent on Canadian goods (and 10 per cent on energy imports). The tariffs were set to take effect on Feb. 4. The president cited lax border controls as a reason for implementing the tariffs on both Canada and Mexico.
In his tweet, Trudeau said that "Canada is implementing our $1.3 billion border plan — reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl."
10,000 frontline personnel "are and will be working on protecting the border," Trudeau said.
Other measures, Trudeau said, will include the appointment of a "fentanyl czar," listing cartels as terrorists, creating a joint Canada-U.S. unit to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering, and backing a newly signed intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl with $200 million.
"We have some good news today," Ontario Premier Doug Ford posted to X. "We have temporarily averted tariffs that would have severely damaged our economy, giving time for more negotiation and time for cooler heads to prevail."
Ford said that will mean Ontario will pause its proposed retaliatory measures, including the threat to remove U.S. alcohol from the LCBO.
"Make no mistake, Canada and Ontario continue to stare down the threat of tariffs," Ford tweeted. "So long as our trading relationship with our largest trading partner is up in the air, we will continue to see many potential projects frozen and projects that were already under way put at risk."
