Washington DC [US], March 7 : President Donald Trump delayed tariffs on Mexico and Canada for a short-term period for certain products before the "big one" from April 2. He said he agreed after having "fruitful conversations" with Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum while he slammed Canada for being a "high tariff nation".
As per an official, the modifications in tariffs against Canada and Mexico are being brought in to "protect American car manufacturers and American farmers".
It was noted that this will thus exclude the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)-eligible goods from existing tariffs. As per CNN, the USMCA was negotiated by Trump during his first term, which makes the three North American countries a free trade zone.
Explaining the modifications, Trump said, "During this interim period, between now and April 2nd, this makes it much more favourable for our American car manufacturers."
Speaking about his conversation with the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, he said, "I spoke to the president of Mexico, a wonderful woman, today, and we helped them out with a problem they were having to do with the short-term tariffs. We had a very good conversation. Also, we discussed drugs, and they've been working much harder lately. We've made tremendous progress on both."
Trump also shared the details of the conversation in a post on Truth Social.
He wrote, "After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement. This Agreement is until April 2nd. I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum. Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl. Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!"
Speaking about tariffs and Canada, Trump added, "Those are happening next week, and the big one will be on April 2nd. Canada is a high-tariff nation. Canada charges us 250 per cent for our milk products and other products and a tremendous tariff on lumber and things as such. We don't need their lumber. We have more lumber than they do. We don't need Canada's lumber. So what I'm doing is I'll be signing an executive order freeing up our forests so that we're allowed to take down trees and make a lot of money and then re-harvest trees...We don't need trees from Canada. We don't need cars from Canada. We don't need energy from Canada. We don't need anything from Canada...We can be self-sustaining, which is in most things... I'm going to be freeing that up very shortly so that we don't have to go to other countries to buy lumber. You know, why should we be buying lumber from other countries? Paying tariffs, paying big prices, extraordinary prices. And we have lumber. We have the best lumber..."
Earlier on Thursday, President Donald Trump had accused Justin Trudeau of "using the tariff problem" with the US to run again for Prime Minister despite the "terrible job he has done for Canada."
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