Trudeau says trade war with US to continue for ‘foreseeable future’

TRENTON, Canada

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that the trade war with the US is likely to continue “for the “foreseeable future” despite talks of a tariff ceasefire.

Trudeau had a heated “colorful” but “substantive” 50-minute conversation Wednesday with US President Donald Trump, he said at a news conference that was held to tout new childcare measures but inevitably led to questions about the hot topic of a trade war.

The 25% US tariffs applied to most Canadian imports and reciprocal tariffs on all US goods instituted by Trudeau are changing rapidly, with mixed messages from Trump officials.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Thursday that Trump is considering pausing all tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods until April.

“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,” said Lutnick, as reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He was referring to the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement, called CUSMA in Canada. The reprieve is for one month.

Lutnick’s knowledge is suspect in that he said car makers had moved their plants to Canada because there are no unions there, a complete fabrication.

Trudeau said the focus now is “reducing the impact” of the US tariffs that have been “unjustly" applied by the US." He was referring to government financial aid to Canadians negatively affected by the trade war.

Trudeau deflected the question when asked how “heated” was the conversation with Trump.

“I’m not going to get into it in detail,” said the prime minister, adding that he has dealt with Trump, first elected in 2016, and they achieved goals such as the renegotiation of the trade deal with the US and Mexico that benefited all three countries despite certain “unpredictabilities” on the part of the White House.

Thursday, Trudeau indicated Canada was not interested in having tariffs lifted from some products but all goods.

“Our goal is to get all tariffs removed,” he said.