Canada to omit a lot of its vindictive rates for the United States

Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday that his country would miss some of its billions of dollars from retaliatory rates for American goods, although it would keep car, steel and aluminum leaks.

A day comes after he and President Donald Trump spoke on the phone for the first time, as the two countries missed a deadline to reach a trade agreement.

Canada had set a $ 25% fee of about $ 30 billion ($ 16 billion; $ 21.7 billion) of American goods in a massif of products, including orange juice and washing machines.

The tax increase was revenge on US tariffs for Canada, which by August is estimated at 35% for all goods that are not compatible with the existing free trade transaction of the countries.

Carney said Canada will now be in line with the US by terminating its rates for goods compatible with the US-Mexico-Canada (USMCA). He said it would “restore free trade for the vast majority” goods that move between the two countries.

The decision will come into force on September 1, Carney said.

In a statement to the BBC CBS American news partner, the White House said it welcomed Canada’s course, adding that it was “long overdue” and the US eagerly awaited the discussions with their northern neighbor about trade and national security.

Canada is one of the many countries that are targeted by the United States as part of Trump’s global trade strategy, but this is one of only two countries – along with China – they have raised US goods in response.

The election shows that the bigger part of the Canadians support the retaliatory rates for the United States.

Carney, which was selected in the April General election, held a campaign on the aggressive approach “elbows” for negotiations with Trump, citing a popular ice hockey period.

Asked by reporters whether Canada softens his approach, Carney claims that there is a better tariff deal with the United States than many other countries because of free trade.

This puts the actual tariff rate of Canadian goods at about 5.6%, much lower than an average of about 16% for other countries, he said.

“While working to deal with exceptional trade problems with the United States, it is important to do our best to maintain this unique advantage for Canadian workers and businesses,” he said.

Canada’s focus, Carney said, will now be on accelerating negotiations with cars, steel, aluminum and timber and other significant sectors before a planned review of the USMCA Free Trade Agreement next year.

The United States has set a 50% tariff for the entire import of steel and aluminum, except for those from the UK, as well as the import of copper. He also imposed 25% of the imports of aluminum.

Canada, for its part, has set 25% tariffs for American steel, aluminum and auto. They will remain in place so far, Carney said.

Upon his return to the White House in January, Trump began a global trade war, imposing tariffs or raising them in goods from all over the world, and threatened to go higher as he worked to negotiate commercial deals that he saw as favorable to the United States.