Trump Says US, Canada Nearing Trade Deal; Hints at Lowering Steel, Aluminium Tariffs

Washington, DC: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) said the United States and Canada were close to finalising a trade agreement, adding that Washington was considering reducing some tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium as part of the deal.

Asked whether the US would lower tariffs on steel and aluminium to get tariffs reduced, Trump said, “Well, we're looking at that. Yeah, yeah.”

"We may bring some of the tariffs down to a level where other countries are, because Canada was paying a higher tariff. Canada was paying us a higher tariff," he added.

Trump said American farmers would no longer face tariffs under the proposed agreement.

"We're getting zero for our farmers. You know, farmers have been hurt very badly by Canada, and they won't be paying any tariffs anymore," Trump told reporters.

The US President said Washington had delayed the implementation of a proposed 50 per cent tariff on Canadian goods for three days at Canada's request to allow both sides to finalise the details.

"We did a three-day pause. It was supposed to be a 50 per cent straight across-the-board tariff, that was going into effect at 7 o'clock this morning, and I delayed it at the request of Canada for three days so we can iron out the details," Trump said.

"But it's going to be a wonderful deal. Hopefully a wonderful deal for everybody," he added. Trump said the US had a good working relationship with Canadian leadership and expressed confidence in the agreement.

"We have a very nice relationship with leadership right now, and we'll see. But we did a three-day pause," he said.

Earlier, Trump had said the US and Canada had reached a trade deal, with tariffs on Canadian imports expected to be reduced to zero for American farmers, subject to finalisation of documents.

"We had a very good conversation with the Prime Minister last night, and we've come to a deal with Canada," Trump had said.

He said the agreement would benefit both countries and that the 50 per cent tariffs, which were scheduled to take effect, had been postponed to provide additional time for negotiations.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had also confirmed that Washington agreed to delay the implementation of the tariffs on a range of Canadian goods until the end of August 21.

"Substantial progress has been made, although there is important work still to be done. As this work is ongoing, the United States has agreed to postpone the implementation of its 50% tariff on a range of Canadian goods under Section 338 of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930 until the end of the day, August 21," Carney said in a letter posted on X.

The proposed tariffs were initially scheduled to cover hundreds of Canadian products, including goods worth billions of dollars. 

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