Business reporter, BBC News
EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockUS Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said President Donald Trump will “probably” announce a deal to reduce tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Wednesday.
“Both the Canadians and Mexicans were on the phone with me all day today trying to show that they’ll do better” on reducing the flow of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into the US, Lutnick said in an interview with Fox Business Network.
But Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly told the BBC’s Newsnight that her office had not been contacted about the plan.
Canada and Mexico announced retaliatory import levies on the US after Washington’s 25% tariffs on its two neighbours came into effect on Tuesday.
Lutnick made clear that he expected the US tariffs to be lowered rather than paused.
“I think [Trump’s] going to figure out, ‘you do more, and I’ll meet you in the middle some way.’ And we’re probably going to be announcing that tomorrow.”
US officials “can say many things” but “the only one that really takes a decision is President Trump,” Joly said.
Lutnick did have a call with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, according to sources who told the Globe and Mail that he had delivered a warning about Canadian retaliation and what was seen as personal attacks against Trump.
The US president used a large part of his speech to Congress on Tuesday outlining his trade policies, but he did not say whether he planned to cut the tariffs that came into effect this week.
Trump said he would move ahead on 2 April with plans for reciprocal tariffs on countries around the world that he sees as treating the US unfairly.
Earlier on Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau slammed Trump’s sweeping tariffs on his country, calling it a “very dumb thing to do” and vowed to conduct a “relentless fight” to protect its economy.
Trudeau announced retaliatory tariffs on US exports and warned that a trade war would be costly for both countries.
But Trump pushed even further in a post on his Truth Social platform, saying: “Please explain to Governor Trudeau, of Canada, that when he puts on a Retaliatory Tariff on the U.S., our Reciprocal Tariff will immediately increase by a like amount!”
Trudeau accused the US president of planning “a total collapse of the Canadian economy because that will make it easier to annex us”.
“That is never going to happen. We will never be the 51st state,” he told reporters.
Washington also ramped up its trade war with Beijing on Tuesday as a new 10% levy on Chinese imports that came into effect – which adds to existing levies from Trump’s first term and those announced last month.
“China will fight to the bitter end of any trade war,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said after their country announced tit-for-tat tariffs on agricultural imports from the US.
