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Trudeau: USA now also stops Canada tariffs

US President Donald Trump

(Bild: APA/AFP/Jim WATSON)

According to Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the United States is suspending the planned introduction of tariffs against his country for at least 30 days. Trudeau made the announcement on Monday after a telephone call with President Donald Trump.

The USA had previously suspended the planned tariffs for Mexico for a month, as Trump and his Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum announced after a conversation.

The measures against China are therefore likely to take effect on Tuesday morning. Canada will make "new commitments", including the appointment of a government commissioner for the fight against fentanyl smuggling, Trudeau wrote. Canada will also add the Mexican drug cartels to its terror list and create a "joint task force with the United States to combat organized crime, fentanyl trafficking and money laundering".

Trump declared via the short message service Truth Social that there would be further negotiations with Mexico in order to reach an agreement. He would take part in the talks. For her part, Sheinbaum wrote on the internet platform X that she had promised to deploy 10,000 National Guard soldiers to the US border. This is intended to combat the infiltration of drugs such as fentanyl to the north. There will be in-depth talks on the topics of security and trade. In return, the USA has promised to help prevent high-powered weapons from coming to Mexico from the USA.

Sheinbaum reports "good talks"
 Over the weekend, the USA imposed 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and ten percent higher tariffs on imports from China - sparking fears of a trade war with global repercussions for the automotive industry, for example. The three countries immediately announced countermeasures.

Sheinbaum reported a "good conversation". "We had a good conversation with President Trump in which we were very respectful of our relationship and our sovereignty; we reached a number of agreements," she said.

According to the heads of state, negotiations will take place during the suspension of the tariffs in order to reach an agreement. Those talks will begin as early as Monday and will center on security issues and trade, Sheinbaum said. "And I'm sure we will be able to deliver results this month". Trump said the negotiations would be led by the foreign, trade and finance ministers, as well as high-level representatives from Mexico. "I look forward to participating with President Sheinbaum in these negotiations and trying to reach an agreement between our two countries," Trump said.

Trump is not only criticizing trade imbalances. He is also using the threat of punitive tariffs to get Mexico to take tougher action against migration and the drug cartels. Mexico is the USA's most important trading partner. More than 80 percent of Mexico's exports go to its neighboring country. Thousands of companies and millions of jobs depend on it.

Trump toughened his tone towards Canada
Trump had initially toughened his tone towards Canada: "We don't need them for cars. We don't need them for lumber. We don't need them for anything. We don't need them for energy," said the Republican, fundamentally questioning trade relations with Canada.

In this context, Trump repeated his call to make the northern neighbor the "51st state" of the USA and to offer it military protection in return - the extent to which he meant this statement remained unclear. However, he added: "As a federal state, there are no tariffs. (...) I'd like to see that." Some people thought this was "far-fetched", Trump continued. "A lot of people don't want to play that game because they don't have a high pain threshold. It would hurt a little bit, but not much."

Trudeau later reported a good conversation with Trump. The US President had announced at the weekend that he would impose far-reaching tariffs on goods from Canada from the weekend. Trudeau then announced countermeasures.

China threatens countermeasures
Trump also announced talks with China. The talks would "probably take place within the next 24 hours", Trump told journalists at the White House on Monday. China's UN ambassador criticized the higher US tariffs as unjustified. They also violate the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), he added. A complaint will be lodged there. China may also be forced to take countermeasures. There are no winners in a trade war.

Trump is bothered by the US trade deficit with other countries. However, some experts criticize the fact that the US only looks at trade in traditional goods and not, for example, internet-based services, in which the US is dominant.