Trump won't impose day-one trade tariffs: WSJ

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OTTAWA — Instead of imposing punishing trade tariffs on Canada, Donald Trump will spend his first day as the United States’ 47th president directing studies on international trade, The Wall Street Journal reports.

In a story published Monday morning, the newspaper quotes a presidential memo that directs federal agencies to study and offer solutions to perceived trade deficits between the U.S. and its trading partners, specifically Mexico, China and Canada.

Trade imbalances are a long-standing irritant to Trump, the paper reported, singling out previous trade agreements with the three nations — the January 2020 Phase One trade deal Trump signed with Beijing, and the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, which is up for review next year.

If true, the news will no doubt issue a collective sigh of relief in Ottawa, which for months has worked under the assumption that Trump will follow through with his promised 25% levy on all Canadian good imported into the U.S. — a policy that would touch off a devastating trade war between the two neighbours.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said retaliation would be swift and immediate.

“The Americans would be starting a trade war against us, and this would be the biggest trade war between Canada and the U.S. in decades,” she during a press conference. “Americans will discover Trump tariff tax.”

On Sunday, Transport and Internal Trade Minister Anita Anand told CTV’s Question Period that retaliation measures are ready to go at a moment’s notice.

“If pushed, our response will be the single largest trade blow the U.S. economy has ever endured, given that Canada is America’s largest export market — larger than China, Japan, the U.K. and France combined,” she said.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

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