WASHINGTON, DC: US President Donald Trump has said that Canada will not impose tariffs on electricity coming into the United States after he backed down from a massive trade war escalation with its northern neighbour.
He accused Canada and Mexico of treating the US “unfairly” and also attacked the European Union calling it “horrible.”
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday (local time), Trump said, “There’s a very strong man in Canada who said he was going to charge a surcharge or a tariff on electricity coming into our country. He has called and he said he’s not going to do that. And it would have been a very bad thing if he did. And he’s not going to do that, so I respect that.”
“Look, we’ve been treated very unfairly by Canada. We’ve been treated very unfairly by Mexico, but we’ve been treated very unfairly by every country all over the world. The European Union is horrible and we’re going to get it back…But we are USD 36 trillion, and we’re going to get it back. We’re the biggest, we’re the best. And I’m very optimistic,” he added.
Trump also blamed former US President Joe Biden for the inflation and illegal immigration and said his predecessor left a “mess” and a horrible situation” for the people of the US, while affirming that his administration will make the US “wealthy again”.
“I have to tell you, I’m very optimistic about the country much more optimistic this way than if I did it the easy way…Biden left us a mess. He left us tremendous inflation, tremendously high costs of products. He left us a mess, but he also left us a mess with millions of people that poured into our country that are criminals. Millions of those people happen to be criminals and we’re looking for them all over the place. But he left us a horrible situation, and we’re changing it. But one of the things we’re changing is we’re going to make our country really wealthy again. We’re going to bring our jobs back. Right now, we’re like a chicken that’s being plucked at from all over the world, we’re not going to let that happen anymore,” he further said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump backed down from a trade war escalation that had threatened a massive increase in tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium and new tariffs on Canadian electricity. In turn, Canada halted surcharges on electricity to customers of the US, as reported by CNN.
After the back and forth tariffs that impacted market for second consecutive day, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Canada’s Minister of Finance Dominic LeBlanc and Ontario Premier Doug Ford said they would hold a meeting on Thursday to renegotiate the free trade treaty known as the USMCA.
Ontario agreed to suspend 25 per cent tariffs on electricity exports to New York, Michigan and Minnesot. Earlier, Trump threatened to impose a 50 per cent tariff on Canada’s aluminum and steel. However, Trump later indicated he would back down.
Earlier Tuesday morning, Trump threatened that he would respond to Ontario’s 25 per cent surcharge on electricity to New York, Minnesota and Michigan with a 25 per cent additional tariff on Canadian electricity. Furthermore, Trump announced he would impose even more tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum than he had planned Wednesday.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated, “Based on Ontario, Canada, placing a 25% Tariff on ‘Electricity’ coming into the United States, I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to ad an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.”
Ford threatened to shut off the supply of electricity to the US. Canada’s Prime Minister-Designate Mark Carney vowed to continue to place pressure on the US in response to Trump’s tariff actions, as reported by CNN.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that Trump has not yet spoken with Carney but that “his phone is always open to leaders who wish to speak with him.” (ANI)
