US President: We have reached a highly fair trade agreement with Canada for both sides
Washington, Aug 19 (KUNA) -- US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that his late-night announcement yesterday suspending the imposition of a 50 percent tariff on Canadian imports, just hours before it was set to take effect, came as a result of reaching a “very fair” trade agreement for both sides.
Trump told reporters, “We had a very productive conversation last night with Prime Minister (Canadian Mark Carney) and reached an agreement with Canada.” He added, “A comprehensive 50 percent tariff on imports from Canada was scheduled to be imposed today, but they called us yesterday and presented the terms we had insisted on.”
He affirmed, “It is a very fair agreement for both sides,” clarifying that “there will be no tariffs on our farmers... Our farmers were paying exorbitant fees when exporting to Canada... These fees will be completely eliminated, reaching zero.”
Regarding whether the United States would reduce tariffs on Canadian cars or domestic trade under the agreement, the US President said, “We are taking some steps, as there must be mutual concessions,” adding, “We will reduce them slightly.” He continued, “It is beneficial for everyone; our farmers will be very happy, as will our manufacturers... Essentially, we will no longer have to pay any fees when exporting to Canada.”
He pointed out that “Canada was imposing huge fees on us, but now there are no fees,” explaining, “What we managed to do is that, under the new tariff schedules we announced, a 50 percent tariff was scheduled to be imposed on everything starting today, but we postponed it for three days.”
He stressed that “the whole matter is contingent on finalizing the documents... So, pending the completion of the documents, we have reached an agreement with Canada,” reiterating his belief that the agreement is “very good for both sides.”
This comes a day after the US President announced late yesterday evening the temporary suspension of a 50 percent tariff on Canada for three days, which was scheduled to take effect this morning. In the announcement posted on his social media platform Truth Social, he said that the United States and Canada had made significant progress toward signing an agreement between them, noting that it was currently “being finalized.”
On July 20, the US President signed three executive orders imposing additional 50 percent tariffs on certain Canadian goods, including cement and animal products, in response to what he described as discriminatory treatment of American products. He stated that this move aimed to offset the burden on US trade and ensure equal opportunities for vital exports.
Trump has occasionally imposed additional tariffs on certain countries, particularly Canada, since adopting a policy last spring of increasing tariffs on the vast majority of countries worldwide. (End)
