Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday that his phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump was “colourful” with moments of tension as the two hashed out how to bring the American-led trade war to an end.
Trudeau said negotiations are ongoing to secure some form of tariff relief for certain sectors, but warned there’s no sign that Trump is willing to drop his levies entirely and it’s likely a trade dispute will continue “for the foreseeable future.”
Trudeau said there are ongoing discussions to have all of the tariffs dropped until April 2, when Trump is expected to impose another layer of retaliatory tariffs on all countries he claims are ripping off the U.S. But those talks have not been finalized and Trudeau said he was reluctant to comment until there is something concrete to announce.
The prime minister acknowledged that the 50-minute conversation between the two men on Wednesday was heated, but said it was a “substantive” call and that there could be a resolution to these issues, at least in the short term.
But Trudeau said over the longer term, Trump seems committed to tariffs.
“We will continue to be in a trade war that was launched for the U.S. for the foreseeable future,” he said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking at a child-care announcement on Thursday in Ottawa, was asked to describe his recent call with U.S. President Donald Trump about tariffs. Trudeau, who didn’t provide specifics, stressed that conversations are ongoing and reiterated that Canada is focusing on how to help people cope while the levies are in place.
Howard Lutnick, Trump’s commerce secretary, told CNBC on Thursday morning that the president is weighing dropping all Canadian and Mexican tariffs until next month.
Lutnick made those comments as stock market indices were plunging again today amid mounting investor fears Trump could throw the economy off the rails with his trade actions.
“It’s likely that it will cover all USMCA compliant goods and services, so that which is part of President Trump’s deal with Canada and Mexico are likely to get an exemption from these tariffs,” Lutnick said, referring to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement that’s called CUSMA in Canada.
“The reprieve is for one month,” he said.
But Lutnick has said things over the last month that don’t pan out or have been proven wrong.
In that same interview with CNBC, for example, Lutnick claimed car manufacturers moved factories to Canada because there were no labour unions in this country — a patently false assertion.
And Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said yesterday it’s Trump who will make the final call on any trade-related matters — not Lutnick.
New details about Trudeau-Trump call
A senior government official told CBC News that Trump used profanity more than once while discussing dairy products on Wednesday’s call, a longtime trade irritant for the U.S. Trudeau did not use profanity, the official said.
Trump also became animated when discussing fentanyl, the official said.
Trudeau stressed that the U.S. government’s own border seizure data shows Canada is not much of a problem and that the country is doing all it can to tamp down on the drug, the official said.
The government official said Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance, who was also on the call, then pushed back hard on Trudeau’s defence, saying seizures is not the right way to measure this problem. Trudeau said there’s no other way to actually quantify the problem, the official said.
The official said the Trump call did end in a somewhat friendly manner, as Trump said on social media. The leaders agreed their officials should discuss the possibility of Trump exempting all CUSMA-compliant products from tariffs and what Canada might be willing to offer in return.
The first phone call in weeks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did little to end the U.S.-Canada trade war, as defiant federal and provincial leaders demanded an end to U.S. tariffs.
In his press conference today, Trudeau said Canada will hold firm and push ahead with retaliatory tariffs and other measures until Trump backs off entirely.
“Our goal is to get all tariffs removed,” he said.
Canada has a strong hand to play in these negotiations — the U.S. needs the products the country sells and there’s tremendous resolve in Canada to hold firm in the face of Trump’s aggression, he said.
“We are in a moment right now where Canada has a very, very strong bargaining position, because Canadians are so united and unequivocal about standing up for our country and standing up for our fellow citizens and being very firm that this is an unjustified and unjustifiable trade war launched by the Americans,” he said.
