OTTAWA: Canada will remove all tariffs on US goods that are compliant with the existing North American free trade agreement, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday, matching exemptions affirmed earlier this month by Washington.
Carney, speaking to reporters a day after a lengthy call with President Donald Trump, said Canada has “the best deal of any country with the United States right now.”
Following a series of agreements the United States has signed with major partners including the European Union, Carney said it was clear the Trump administration is compelling countries “to buy access to the world’s largest economy.”
He said the average tariff rate on goods entering the United States from around the world was now at 16 percent, up from two percent before Trump took office.
The US tariff rate on Canadian goods was 5.6 percent, the prime minister said, adding that “85 percent of our trade is tariff-free.”
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Carney has said it was crucial the United States decided earlier this month to maintain its tariff exemption on all goods compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
Effective September 1, Canada will match that exemption as a goodwill gesture, as it aims to “intensify” discussions with the Trump administration on a broader trading relationship, the prime minister said.
Carney, a former competitive hockey player, said the decision to remove some counter-tariffs reflected the evolving stages of those negotiations.
“There is a time in the game… (when) we dropped the gloves in the first period to send a message, and we’ve done that,” he said, using hockey terminology for punching your opponent.
“There’s also a time in the game (when) … you want to put the puck in the net,” he said, stressing Ottawa was now focused on clinching a deal that could offer long-term benefits for the Canadian economy.
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