Latest news with #US-Mexico-Canada
CNN
15 hours ago
- Business
- CNN
Trump's trade war victory is already under siege
The economy was supposed to crumble. The trade war was expected to escalate out of control. Markets were forecast to plunge. None of that happened – at least, not yet. President Donald Trump has pulled off what few outside the White House predicted: A trade war victory of sorts that sets America's taxes on imported goods higher than the infamous Smoot-Hawley era, without any of the damaging fallout so far. Customs revenue has increased sharply while inflation remains reasonably low. And America's trading partners, for the most part, have been willing to accept the higher tariffs without significant retaliation. Multiple framework agreements between the United States and other trading partners have jacked up tariffs on foreign goods imported to America while setting levies on US exports at or near zero. Overseas trading partners have agreed to open previously closed markets to some US goods, pledged increased investments in the United States and dropped some of what the Trump administration has lambasted as non-trade barriers, like taxes on digital services. But Trump's early trade victory may be short-lived. In fact, it is already showing signs that it may not last. The European Union, fresh off its 11th-hour compromise to get a trade agreement done before Trump's self-imposed August 1 deadline, is already in revolt. French Prime Minister François Bayrou called Sunday a 'dark day.' Hungarian Prime Minister and Trump ally Viktor Orban said Trump steamrolled the EU. Belgium's Prime Minister Bart De Wever lambasted the Trump administration's 'delusion of protectionism.' And Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's trade committee, said the deal is 'not satisfactory.' The 27-member bloc has to hammer out key aspects of its framework, and the fragile trade truce between two of the world's largest economies could quickly break apart if sentiment turns against the arrangement. The Trump administration's trade talks with its northern neighbor and one of its largest trading partners have been effectively shut down. Despite Canada relenting on its digital services tax that the president has lambasted, Trump continued to threaten higher tariffs on some Canadian goods, including lumber. Although many goods imported from Canada continue to be tariff-free because of the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, the USMCA only covers just about half of Canadian goods. So higher tariffs on Canada could raise some costs for American consumers down the road. And the fact that America is even embroiled in a trade spat with Canada in the first place is a sign that the recent cooling off in the trade war may not last: Trump negotiated and signed the United States' current trade agreement with Canada during his first term. At any time, even after an agreement is inked, Trump could turn around and decide to raise tariffs again. A third round of talks between China and the United States' trade negotiators is expected to result in a continued pause of their historically high tariffs on one another. But it's unclear what else might come from the discussions, and the Trump administration has grown frustrated by what it has described as China's slow-walking of its previous agreements. Both sides have aimed to reduce more regulatory barriers on shipments of key technologies. China has sought more access to critical semiconductors, and the United States wants the flow of rare earth magnets to increase further. But the Trump administration has tried repeatedly to speed up China's slow progress, claiming the country has failed to live up to its agreement to approve the critical materials for crucial electronics. Trump has also said he wants China to open up its market to more US goods – a desire that Chinese Premier Xi Jinping is unlikely to give in to significantly. Trump's rhetoric against China has cooled in recent months, but the truce appears to be on a knife's edge. A crucial appeals court hearing Thursday could determine whether most of Trump's tariffs are legal at all. For most of his tariffs, Trump has cited powers listed in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. But a federal court in May ruled that Trump overstepped his authority to levy tariffs on that basis. An appeals court paused that ruling from taking effect and will hear oral arguments Thursday. It's not clear when the court will rule, and the White House would likely appeal to the Supreme Court if it loses. If Trump ultimately loses his ability to levy tariffs using emergency powers, he has plenty of other options – but legal experts have said those alternatives could limit his ability to set tariffs without Congress. For example, Trump may be able to impose some tariffs as high as just 15% but only for 150 days, potentially taking some of the bite out of his tariff regime. Although the US economy remains strong, with rebounding retail sales, a still-robust labor market and rising consumer confidence, there is some evidence that inflation in key areas is starting to creep higher – slowly – because of tariffs. That's a potential warning sign as the tariffs take full effect. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index earlier this month showed that some tariff-affected goods have started to gain in price. Clothing, appliances, computers, sporting goods, toys, video equipment, hardware and tools prices have been on the rise. And it's starting to become a trend – in many of those categories, the rise has been happening for a few months. Many major retailers, including Walmart, have said they will raise prices because of tariffs. And GM, Volkswagen and Stellantis all reported tariff charges of $1 billion or more over the past quarter. Economists widely expect inflation to pick up in the late summer and throughout the rest of the year as retailers work through the inventories of goods they had stockpiled before tariffs went into effect. No one expects anything close to the inflation crisis of a few years ago. But with consumers still dealing with price-hike PTSD, that won't be a welcome change from the return to healthy inflation levels over the past year.
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Business Standard
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Trump says 50-50 chances of negotiating a trade deal with European Union
President Donald Trump put the odds of striking a trade deal with Europe to reduce the tariff rate on their imports at 50-50, even as diplomats from the trading bloc have expressed optimism in recent days that an agreement could be near. 'I would say that we have a 50-50 chance, maybe less than that, but a 50-50 chance of making a deal with the EU,' Trump told reporters Friday before departing for a golf trip to Scotland. But, in a signal of how quickly fortunes can turn in the trade negotiations, Trump then said US and EU negotiators were working 'closely' to strike a deal and predicted an agreement could come to fruition. 'I think EU has got a pretty good chance of making a deal,' Trump added. Trump earlier this month issued a letter saying the EU would face a 30 per cent tariff on most goods if they fail to reach an agreement by Aug. 1, in addition to sector-specific tariffs. Trump has hit cars and auto parts with a 25 per cent customs tax, and steel and aluminum with a rate double that. He's also threatened to target pharmaceuticals and semiconductors with new duties as early as next month, and recently announced a 50 per cent duty on copper. European negotiators are optimistic they can strike a deal that would set a 15 per cent baseline for most exports, with hopes that duties at that level would also cover categories like automobiles that are facing industry-specific duties. They also hope to set a quota for lower tariffs for some steel and aluminum products. The EU may also receive limited carve-outs linked to aviation, some medical devices and generic medicines, several spirits, and manufacturing equipment. Tariff Letters Trump told reporters that he also expected to issue around 200 additional letters unilaterally setting tariff levels on other trading partners in the coming days, saying he viewed most rates as essentially settled at this point. He also downplayed the notion that the UK would be able to trade an elimination of their digital services tax for further reductions to steel and aluminum tariffs. 'If I do it for one, I have to do it for all,' Trump said. The president also singled out at least one ally — Canada — as unlikely to see a new deal before the deadline. 'We haven't really had a lot of luck with Canada,' Trump said. 'I think Canada could be one where they'll just pay tariffs, not really a negotiation.' Trump has threatened a 35 per cent tariff on Canadian goods — up from an existing 25 per cent — but aides have said they don't expect it to apply to imports shipped under the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement brokered during the president's first term. On another major trading partner, China, Trump expressed confidence that upcoming trade talks in Stockholm could yield progress. The US and China have the 'confines of a deal,' Trump said. The US president also praised Australia after his announcement on Thursday that the country would remove import restrictions on US beef. 'Australia was great. They opened up beef yesterday for the first time ever,' Trump said, indicating he believed it was an effort to advance trade negotiations. 'We asked them to do it, and all of a sudden we got word that they would, so obviously they're looking to do something,' Trump said.
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
America's terrible tariffs could actually be a huge win for Canada's economy
The whole thing about Canadians is that they're remarkably nice. Except lately, they haven't been feeling so warm and fuzzy, namely toward their neighbors to the south. Given everything that's going on — President Donald Trump's on-and-off trade war, his remarks about making the country the 51st state — Canada has a right to be annoyed with the United States. If your longtime bestie suddenly turned on you for no apparent reason, you'd be miffed, too. The US's sudden shift to frenemy status is going to cause some pain for Canada in the near term, especially as it stands to be a big economic loser from Trump's tariff tantrum. But ultimately, the turmoil may be a blessing in disguise for the Canucks. It's an opportunity for the country to step out of the star-spangled shadow and do its own thing. "It's really kind of a decoupling moment that is scary to watch in the short term. In the medium to long term, I have to say, it's an important wake-up call for Canada," says Matthew Holmes, the chief of public policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. "If I look back on this in 20 years, I hope to be able to say that this woke Canada up to the need to be a little more strategic and have a little bit more of its own agency in the economy and in the kind of economy we want." If the US doesn't want to be as good of friends anymore, fine, Canada can make new, better friends, anyway. The US and Canadian economies are deeply intertwined. A shared language, geographic proximity, and interconnected supply chains have made the countries convenient strategic partners for decades. Three-quarters of Canada's exports go to the United States, and nearly half of its imported goods come from the US. In 2024, Canada was the third-largest source of imports to the US, behind China and Mexico. Canada was also the top destination for exports from the US. Several of the two countries' biggest industries, including automotives and energy, are highly interwoven with one another. Trump's belligerent stance toward Canada has thrown the country for a loop. While Canada isn't subject to the 10% blanket tariffs he's placed on imports from other countries, he's targeted specific areas with import taxes, including 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum, 25% tariffs on cars, 10% tariffs on potash and energy, and 25% tariffs on imports not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal (formerly known as NAFTA). He's also planning to place a 50% tariff on copper come August. Most recently, the president threatened to put a 35% tariff on imports from Canada, blaming its retaliatory tariffs for the move, though it wasn't immediately clear what goods this would apply to. (The president says this is about fentanyl, though very little fentanyl comes to the US over the Canadian border.) A Trump administration official said in an email that they expected goods currently tariffed at 25% to go up to 35%, though no final decisions have been made by the president. Given Trump's persistent flip-flopping on tariffs, it's not clear whether they will actually take hold. This constant state of flux is making investors, at the very least, a bit more casual about the whole thing. The foreign exchange market, which tracks currency fluctuations, would indicate investors aren't too worried about it — the Canadian dollar isn't swinging based on Trump's pronouncements and has strengthened in recent months. "The market, so to speak, is seeing through a lot of this rabble-rousing," says Peter Morrow, an economist at the University of Toronto. The TACO trade — which is short for Trump Always Chickens Out and proxy for the idea that the president backs down from his most aggressive threats — is alive in the Great White North, too. Regardless, the American president's trade antics are taking a toll on Canada. It's the country most hurt by the US trade war so far — the US is second. An analysis from the Yale Budget Lab found Trump's tariffs and Canadian countermeasures could cause Canada's economy to shrink by 2.1% in the long term. The trade dispute increases the chances of a recession in Canada, and it threatens to increase inflation. It also injects an incredible amount of uncertainty into the economy. It's next to impossible for Canadian businesses to plan for the future when they have no idea what the guy in the White House is going to do, day-to-day. "It's not only the tariff wall; it's kind of a wall of uncertainty that's going up between the two countries," says Julian Karaguesian, a course lecturer in McGill University's economics department. "The immediate effect it's having in the short term is a cooling effect on business investment, which is the dynamic part of the economy." Canada isn't taking the economic punch in the face lying down. Canada's new prime minister, Mark Carney, and the Canadian public have taken a hockey-esque "elbows up" approach to the US. A "Buy Canadian" movement has swept the nation. Canadians are swapping out American-made products and groceries for national ones, guided by forums and apps that help distinguish locally made goods from their Yankee counterparts. Liquor stores have pulled American whiskeys off the shelves. Instead of going to McDonald's, Canadians are hitting up A&W. They're opening up the CBC Gem streaming app to see what's on there instead of Netflix. "Brand damage can last a long time. People won't remember in 10 years why they don't like Nike anymore, but they will still think slightly ill of it," a guy who runs a website called Shop Canadian Stuff tells me. He spoke with me on the condition of anonymity, because his job doesn't know about his nationalist side hustle. Evan Worman, one of the moderators of a Buy Canadian subreddit, tells me that Canadians redirecting their purchasing power is a loss for the US because it's opening people's eyes to the quality of non-American stuff. "People are going to find a lot of the products that are getting imported from Europe have better safety standards, have higher quality control than the US, and it doesn't come with all the hang-ups and baggage of buying from somebody who wants to invade you," he says. Worman is originally from Alaska and has lived in Canada for a decade. When people don't realize he's not Canadian, he doesn't correct them. "People are genuinely very angry at us right now," he says. The attacks are also fostering a willingness to reshape the domestic Canadian economy: Local governments are getting rid of internal trade barriers that have prevented goods from flowing between provinces. "We've had, for decades, stupid, unnecessary rules between Canadian provinces," says Dan Kelly, the president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. "There has been a resurgence of that among our members that are now saying, 'Well, wait a minute, if the US market is uncertain, then I'll send my goods to Ontario rather than to New York.'" The federal government says knocking down interprovincial trade restrictions could boost Canada's economy by $200 billion annually. Karaguesian believes that may be an overstatement, but that and the domestic focus are emblematic of a bigger shift. "The people that are running the United States are saying we don't really have any allies right now — we have adversaries, and we have countries we can tell what to do," making the emphasis on a more unified Canadian economy all the more important, he says. Also on the shorter-term front, many Canadian businesses that hadn't yet bothered to get compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement because previous tariff levels were so negligible are getting their ducks in a row. Holmes, from the Chamber of Commerce, says that pre-Trump, only about half of the products crossing the border were USMCA compliant, because companies hadn't bothered to do the paperwork, but over the past four months, that's gotten to about two-thirds. He estimates that 90% of Canadian products should be compliant overall but notes that "it's just the work of getting it done." Canadian companies aren't rushing to move their operations to the US — which seems to be, in large part, Trump's goal in all of this — but they are adapting. "They're diversifying their sales, and they're diversifying their suppliers," says Patrick Gill, the vice president of the Business Data Lab at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. "And so they're looking to other international markets where Canada has established free trade agreements." The United States' attitudes have sent Canada seeking improved trade agreements and relations elsewhere, including Europe, Asia, and the Global South. In an attempt to wean itself off the US, Canada is looking to expand where it sources from and where it sells. But just how far to go is a difficult calculation. "Some people say that Canada should take the easy win, stay linked to the US, and just ride it out. And there's other people who say that the United States is not a reliable trading partner anymore, and that Canada should strengthen its relationships with other countries. But developing those other relationships is not easy," says Morrow, from the University of Toronto. Canada may be at its breaking point. Canadian political leaders and nationals feel like the US will never be satisfied, no matter how much ground they give. They find the 51st state jokes really offensive. And as much as the US-Canada relationship is extra strained right now, Canadians have long been skeptical of their larger neighbors. The US-Canada free trade agreement that predated NAFTA in the late 1980s was unpopular in Canada. Post-9/11, Canada resisted pressure from the US to join the Iraq invasion and chafed at President George W. Bush's "you're with us or against us" mentality. Some Canadian policymakers felt slighted by the Obama administration's attempts at pushing "Buy American" provisions and by the US-focused investments in the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act. The US and Canada have long grumbled over dairy and lumber. "Canada has a strong skepticism of the US even during the best of times," Morrow says, citing a quote from former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (Justin's father), who said living next to the US was like "sleeping with an elephant — no matter how friendly or even-tempered is the beast, if one can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt." "The United States, for its entire history, has been a protectionist country except the time from the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 to the 9/11 attacks," Karaguesian says. "The United States was the biggest defender of free trade at the turn of the century because they were winning at that game." Trump says the US has "all the cards" in trade relations with Canada. The US certainly has more cards, but Canada isn't playing with an empty hand. The country has felt emboldened to strengthen trade relations with other partners, to revive its own manufacturing base, and to separate itself economically, culturally, and otherwise from the US. Kelly, from CFIB, compares Canada's retaliatory tariffs to economic chemotherapy — "you take the poison in order to try to fight the larger battle" — and adds that it says something that the country is so willing to dig in. "There is fairly significant resolve among Canadian businesses to press back," he says. To be sure, Trump's trade war is doing real damage to Canada — and, it should be said, to the US. Continuing the tit-for-tat won't mean mutually assured destruction for the neighboring countries, but it is one that will harm both, even if to different degrees. Canada's 40 million population can't replace the US's 340 million in terms of a consumer market. It will continue to depend on the US and, increasingly, others for commerce and trade. And the idea of a complete decoupling is quite unfathomable, unless Americans want to spend a ton more on energy and the entire North American auto sector is overhauled. At the moment, Canadians are fired up and holding their own. They don't appear to be poised to back down anytime soon — or to forget what's happening now. "Our elites need to wake up to the full nightmare of what Donald Trump's administration means in terms of trade," Karaguesian says. Much of the Canadian population already has — and years down the line, it could very well be to their country's benefit. Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
21-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Canada First, Eh!
The whole thing about Canadians is that they're remarkably nice. Except lately, they haven't been feeling so warm and fuzzy, namely toward their neighbors to the south. Given everything that's going on — President Donald Trump's on-and-off trade war, his remarks about making the country the 51st state — Canada has a right to be annoyed with the United States. If your longtime bestie suddenly turned on you for no apparent reason, you'd be miffed, too. The US's sudden shift to frenemy status is going to cause some pain for Canada in the near term, especially as it stands to be a big economic loser from Trump's tariff tantrum. But ultimately, the turmoil may be a blessing in disguise for the Canucks. It's an opportunity for the country to step out of the star-spangled shadow and do its own thing. "It's really kind of a decoupling moment that is scary to watch in the short term. In the medium to long term, I have to say, it's an important wake-up call for Canada," says Matthew Holmes, the chief of public policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. "If I look back on this in 20 years, I hope to be able to say that this woke Canada up to the need to be a little more strategic and have a little bit more of its own agency in the economy and in the kind of economy we want." If the US doesn't want to be as good of friends anymore, fine, Canada can make new, better friends, anyway. The US and Canadian economies are deeply intertwined. A shared language, geographic proximity, and interconnected supply chains have made the countries convenient strategic partners for decades. Three-quarters of Canada's exports go to the United States, and nearly half of its imported goods come from the US. In 2024, Canada was the third-largest source of imports to the US, behind China and Mexico. Canada was also the top destination for exports from the US. Several of the two countries' biggest industries, including automotives and energy, are highly interwoven with one another. Trump's belligerent stance toward Canada has thrown the country for a loop. While Canada isn't subject to the 10% blanket tariffs he's placed on imports from other countries, he's targeted specific areas with import taxes, including 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum, 25% tariffs on cars, 10% tariffs on potash and energy, and 25% tariffs on imports not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal (formerly known as NAFTA). He's also planning to place a 50% tariff on copper come August. Most recently, the president threatened to put a 35% tariff on imports from Canada, blaming its retaliatory tariffs for the move, though it wasn't immediately clear what goods this would apply to. (The president says this is about fentanyl, though very little fentanyl comes to the US over the Canadian border.) A Trump administration official said in an email that they expected goods currently tariffed at 25% to go up to 35%, though no final decisions have been made by the president. Given Trump's persistent flip-flopping on tariffs, it's not clear whether they will actually take hold. This constant state of flux is making investors, at the very least, a bit more casual about the whole thing. The foreign exchange market, which tracks currency fluctuations, would indicate investors aren't too worried about it — the Canadian dollar isn't swinging based on Trump's pronouncements and has strengthened in recent months. "The market, so to speak, is seeing through a lot of this rabble-rousing," says Peter Morrow, an economist at the University of Toronto. The TACO trade — which is short for Trump Always Chickens Out and proxy for the idea that the president backs down from his most aggressive threats — is alive in the Great White North, too. People won't remember in 10 years why they don't like Nike anymore, but they will still think slightly ill of it. Regardless, the American president's trade antics are taking a toll on Canada. It's the country most hurt by the US trade war so far — the US is second. An analysis from the Yale Budget Lab found Trump's tariffs and Canadian countermeasures could cause Canada's economy to shrink by 2.1% in the long term. The trade dispute increases the chances of a recession in Canada, and it threatens to increase inflation. It also injects an incredible amount of uncertainty into the economy. It's next to impossible for Canadian businesses to plan for the future when they have no idea what the guy in the White House is going to do, day-to-day. "It's not only the tariff wall; it's kind of a wall of uncertainty that's going up between the two countries," says Julian Karaguesian, a course lecturer in McGill University's economics department. "The immediate effect it's having in the short term is a cooling effect on business investment, which is the dynamic part of the economy." Canada isn't taking the economic punch in the face lying down. Canada's new prime minister, Mark Carney, and the Canadian public have taken a hockey-esque "elbows up" approach to the US. A " Buy Canadian" movement has swept the nation. Canadians are swapping out American-made products and groceries for national ones, guided by forums and apps that help distinguish locally made goods from their Yankee counterparts. Liquor stores have pulled American whiskeys off the shelves. Instead of going to McDonald's, Canadians are hitting up A&W. They're opening up the CBC Gem streaming app to see what's on there instead of Netflix. "Brand damage can last a long time. People won't remember in 10 years why they don't like Nike anymore, but they will still think slightly ill of it," a guy who runs a website called Shop Canadian Stuff tells me. He spoke with me on the condition of anonymity, because his job doesn't know about his nationalist side hustle. Evan Worman, one of the moderators of a Buy Canadian subreddit, tells me that Canadians redirecting their purchasing power is a loss for the US because it's opening people's eyes to the quality of non-American stuff. "People are going to find a lot of the products that are getting imported from Europe have better safety standards, have higher quality control than the US, and it doesn't come with all the hang-ups and baggage of buying from somebody who wants to invade you," he says. Worman is originally from Alaska and has lived in Canada for a decade. When people don't realize he's not Canadian, he doesn't correct them. "People are genuinely very angry at us right now," he says. The attacks are also fostering a willingness to reshape the domestic Canadian economy: Local governments are getting rid of internal trade barriers that have prevented goods from flowing between provinces. "We've had, for decades, stupid, unnecessary rules between Canadian provinces," says Dan Kelly, the president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. "There has been a resurgence of that among our members that are now saying, 'Well, wait a minute, if the US market is uncertain, then I'll send my goods to Ontario rather than to New York.'" The federal government says knocking down interprovincial trade restrictions could boost Canada's economy by $200 billion annually. Karaguesian believes that may be an overstatement, but that and the domestic focus are emblematic of a bigger shift. "The people that are running the United States are saying we don't really have any allies right now — we have adversaries, and we have countries we can tell what to do," making the emphasis on a more unified Canadian economy all the more important, he says. Also on the shorter-term front, many Canadian businesses that hadn't yet bothered to get compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement because previous tariff levels were so negligible are getting their ducks in a row. Holmes, from the Chamber of Commerce, says that pre-Trump, only about half of the products crossing the border were USMCA compliant, because companies hadn't bothered to do the paperwork, but over the past four months, that's gotten to about two-thirds. He estimates that 90% of Canadian products should be compliant overall but notes that "it's just the work of getting it done." Canadian companies aren't rushing to move their operations to the US — which seems to be, in large part, Trump's goal in all of this — but they are adapting. "They're diversifying their sales, and they're diversifying their suppliers," says Patrick Gill, the vice president of the Business Data Lab at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. "And so they're looking to other international markets where Canada has established free trade agreements." The United States' attitudes have sent Canada seeking improved trade agreements and relations elsewhere, including Europe, Asia, and the Global South. In an attempt to wean itself off the US, Canada is looking to expand where it sources from and where it sells. But just how far to go is a difficult calculation. "Some people say that Canada should take the easy win, stay linked to the US, and just ride it out. And there's other people who say that the United States is not a reliable trading partner anymore, and that Canada should strengthen its relationships with other countries. But developing those other relationships is not easy," says Morrow, from the University of Toronto. Canada has a strong skepticism of the US even during the best of times. Canada may be at its breaking point. Canadian political leaders and nationals feel like the US will never be satisfied, no matter how much ground they give. They find the 51st state jokes really offensive. And as much as the US-Canada relationship is extra strained right now, Canadians have long been skeptical of their larger neighbors. The US-Canada free trade agreement that predated NAFTA in the late 1980s was unpopular in Canada. Post-9/11, Canada resisted pressure from the US to join the Iraq invasion and chafed at President George W. Bush's "you're with us or against us" mentality. Some Canadian policymakers felt slighted by the Obama administration's attempts at pushing "Buy American" provisions and by the US-focused investments in the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act. The US and Canada have long grumbled over dairy and lumber. "Canada has a strong skepticism of the US even during the best of times," Morrow says, citing a quote from former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (Justin's father), who said living next to the US was like "sleeping with an elephant — no matter how friendly or even-tempered is the beast, if one can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt." "The United States, for its entire history, has been a protectionist country except the time from the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 to the 9/11 attacks," Karaguesian says. "The United States was the biggest defender of free trade at the turn of the century because they were winning at that game." Trump says the US has "all the cards" in trade relations with Canada. The US certainly has more cards, but Canada isn't playing with an empty hand. The country has felt emboldened to strengthen trade relations with other partners, to revive its own manufacturing base, and to separate itself economically, culturally, and otherwise from the US. Kelly, from CFIB, compares Canada's retaliatory tariffs to economic chemotherapy — "you take the poison in order to try to fight the larger battle" — and adds that it says something that the country is so willing to dig in. "There is fairly significant resolve among Canadian businesses to press back," he says. To be sure, Trump's trade war is doing real damage to Canada — and, it should be said, to the US. Continuing the tit-for-tat won't mean mutually assured destruction for the neighboring countries, but it is one that will harm both, even if to different degrees. Canada's 40 million population can't replace the US's 340 million in terms of a consumer market. It will continue to depend on the US and, increasingly, others for commerce and trade. And the idea of a complete decoupling is quite unfathomable, unless Americans want to spend a ton more on energy and the entire North American auto sector is overhauled. At the moment, Canadians are fired up and holding their own. They don't appear to be poised to back down anytime soon — or to forget what's happening now. "Our elites need to wake up to the full nightmare of what Donald Trump's administration means in terms of trade," Karaguesian says. Much of the Canadian population already has — and years down the line, it could very well be to their country's benefit.
Kuwait Times
16-07-2025
- Business
- Kuwait Times
US slaps 17% duty on most Mexican fresh tomatoes
MEXICO CITY: 'Kidney tomatoes' are displayed at a vegetable store in Mexico City.-- AFP WASHINGTON: The United States is imposing antidumping duties on most imports of fresh tomatoes from Mexico, the US Commerce Department said Monday as Washington alleged its neighbor engaged in unfair trade. The duties, set at 17.09 percent, come after Washington moved to terminate a 2019 agreement that staved off such charges. 'Mexico remains one of our greatest allies, but for far too long our farmers have been crushed by unfair trade practices that undercut pricing on produce like tomatoes. That ends today,' Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement. 'This rule change is in line with President (Donald) Trump's trade policies and approach with Mexico,' he said. Mexico is a dominant supplier of US fresh tomato imports, and the US Commerce Department said that antidumping duties are calculated to measure the percentage by which Mexican tomatoes were sold in the country at 'unfair prices.' The United States had announced it was withdrawing from the tomato agreement in April, arguing that the action was meant to help American tomato growers compete fairly. But observers have expressed concern that the duties could cause a spike in tomato prices. On Monday, the Mexican government said it was working with tomato producers to limit the effects of the 17 percent duty. 'We are working together to minimize the impact,' President Claudia Sheinbaum said at her regular morning press conference, without giving details. Other Mexican government officials called the tomato tariff unfair and warned the move will ultimately harm Americans. The measure goes 'against the interests not only of Mexican producers but also of the US industry,' officials said in a joint communique from the Mexican ministries of economy and agriculture. The antidumping duties are the latest blow to trade after Trump this year introduced wide-ranging tariffs on partners including Mexico. After returning to the White House in January, Trump swiftly targeted Mexican goods with a 25 percent tariff—although he eventually exempted products covered by the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement signed during his first term. –AFP
