Gerrard Kaonga
Donald Trump has a caused a stir with Canada following an announcement on tariff increases and Mark Carney has hit back.
Donald Trump has frustrated one of the US’ closes trade partners in Canada after making a move that will make international trade more expensive.
Trump has long been a fan of tariffs and argued that they encourage consumers to buy more American goods, however, many have hit back against this shift and disruption to international trade.
Three months ago, on April 2, he announced a 10% 'baseline' tariff on almost all imports and said he was open to discussions to iron out negotiations with other nations about individual trade deals.
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This resulted in a 90 day pause and that deadline was extended until today (Aug 1).
For Canada, this has meant that their tariff of 25 percent rose to 35 percent, kicking in from 4 A.M.
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However, most Canadian goods will be exempt due to an existing trade treaty.
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With that said, following this move from Trump and the US, the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney issued a statement condemning the move.
He claimed that he was ‘disappointed’ by Trump and said his government will focus on making ‘Canada Strong’ through investment and diversifying export markets.
He added: “Canadians will be our own best customer.
“We can give ourselves more than any foreign government can ever take away by building with Canadian workers and by using Canadian resources to benefit all Canadians."
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Carney also said that the US had justified the 35% tariff rate on the basis of the cross border flow of fentanyl, ‘despite the fact that Canada accounts for only 1% of US fentanyl imports and has been working intensively to further reduce these volumes’.
The statement continued to defend Canada's commitment and efforts to resolve the drug issues facing both the US and Canada.
It read: “Canada’s government is making historic investments in border security to arrest drug traffickers, take down transnational gangsand end migrant smuggling.
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These include thousands of new law enforcement and border security officers, aerial surveillance, intelligence and security operations and the strongest border legislation in our history."
Despite the tough move on Canada, Trump said Mexico would be charged at current rates for another 90 days, avoiding a threatened increase to 35%.
As well as this, US-Chinese trade negotiations are ongoing, after the pair increased tariffs on goods to more than 100% before temporarily climbing down.