By Bloomberg News
“That means we have a great win-win.”
The U.S., Canada and Mexico have an existing trade pact that Trump signed during his first term. But the president has sidestepped it and placed import taxes of 50% on foreign steel and aluminum, along with levies on cars and trucks. Canada is a significant exporter of all of those products.
The Canadian government has put counter-tariffs on tens of billions of dollars of U.S.-manufactured items, including vehicles and other consumer products. But Carney, who became prime minister in March, opted not to retaliate when Trump increased the tariffs on steel and aluminum weeks ago.
The two leaders have agreed on a July 21 deadline to reach an agreement.
“We’re going to get through this,” said Hoekstra, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan, a state that’s highly dependent on trade with Canada. “When we are done, we are going to be stronger and better than what we were when we began.”