President Donald Trump warned that he may implement tariffs on Canadian dairy and lumber as early as Friday, in what amounts to the latest broadside by his administration in the brewing trade war between the United States and Canada.
Trump has whipsawed on tariffs in recent days, imposing sweeping levies on Tuesday before paring back some of them, including goods from Mexico and Canada covered under the countries' USMCA trade agreement. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau slammed the new tariffs as “very dumb” earlier this week.
Trump, however, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, said there is more to come on tariffs, and possibly soon, over policies he said are hurting American dairy farmers.
“Canada has been ripping us off for years on tariffs for lumber and for dairy products,” Trump said, and cited what he said was Canada’s roughly 250% tariff on dairy products “which is taking advantage of our farmers” and which he promised to match.
“We may do it as early as today, or we’ll wait until Monday or Tuesday,” Trump said. “We’re going to charge the same thing. It’s not fair. It never has been fair, and they’ve treated our farmers badly.”
Trump has made reciprocal tariffs a pillar of his argument on trade, but a White House official said that in this instance, they had no actions to preview on the president's latest promise.
“Discussions with Canada continue," said the official. "While we don’t have any specific actions to preview at the moment, the President is always ready to take action to save American lives from the scourge of illicit drugs flowing over our borders and shore up our border security.”
Trudeau this week said he expected the trade war to be ongoing “for the foreseeable future” as tensions between the two leaders rise. Trump has referred to Trudeau as a “governor” repeatedly, under the implication that Canada could become the 51st state.
Trump took questions from reporters on other pressing economic policy decisions, touting the one-month reprieve that he had offered automakers and explaining his comments warning of potential "disturbances" in the economy.
Asked why he had called on Congress to overturn the bipartisan CHIPS and Sciences Act, Trump said the incentives it provided were no longer needed for companies to set up business in the U.S., making it “a waste of money.”
“It’s hundreds of millions of dollars,” Trump said of the landmark bill that was signed into law by former President Joe Biden.
Earlier this week, Trump called the legislation “a horrible, horrible thing” in a joint address to Congress and directed House Speaker Mike Johnson to “get rid of” it, and use “whatever is left over … to reduce debt. Congressional Republicans have largely indicated they do not plan to move forward with Trump's demand.
Responding to a question about the prospect of peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, after threatening sanctions on Russia earlier today after a bombing campaign by Moscow, Trump said he has faith that Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to bring to a close the multiyear war.
“I believe him,” Trump said of Putin.
