Just one day after halting some 25% tariffs against Canada, President Donald Trump suggested there could be more coming against the United States’s northern neighbor.
The president announced a one-month exemption on certain imports from Canada and Mexico on Thursday, with reciprocal tariffs on all imports still expected to go into effect on April 2.
However, on Friday, Trump announced impending tariffs against Canada. The president has repeatedly mocked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the governor of the U.S.’s 51st state.
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“Canada has been ripping us off for years on tariffs for lumber and for dairy products, 250% — nobody ever talks about that — 250% tariff which is taking advantage of our farmers,” Trump said.
“So that’s not going to happen anymore. … They’ll be met with the exact same tariff unless they drop it, and that’s what reciprocal means,” he continued. “And we may do it as early as today, or we’ll wait till Monday or Tuesday, but that’s what we’re going to do.”
Trump has now twice delayed tariffs against Canada as economists continue to warn about the risks of a recession harming the U.S. Trump also gave the three big automakers a one-month exemption after meeting with representatives.
Trump’s consistent tariff threats and mockery of Trudeau have scrambled internal politics in Canada. Trudeau’s Liberal Party is surging in popularity ahead of October’s general election, in which Conservatives were expected to dominate.
However, Trump has some cause to celebrate on Friday.
The economy added 151,000 jobs in February, according to a Friday report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4.1%. Investors expected the unemployment rate to stay at 4% and for the economy to add nearly 159,000 new jobs.
“We created 10,000 manufacturing jobs in February alone. That hasn’t happened in a long time. And these aren’t government jobs, which actually we cut,” Trump bragged. “These are private sector manufacturing jobs.”
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett added, “I expect that this is going to be a glimpse of the golden age to come.”
Hassett also downplayed questions about economic uncertainty hours before.
“We’ve got more than a trillion dollars of commitments, some new factories in the U.S., because people are trying to onshore production, and this is the first of many reports that are going to look like this,” he told reporters.
Trump is now responsible for the economy after succeeding former President Joe Biden, whom he blamed for high inflation. The February report was the first full month under the second Trump administration.
The jobs report came amid Elon Musk‘s work in slashing the federal workforce through the Department of Government Efficiency.
The full impact of DOGE’s work and Trump’s tariffs is likely to be felt in the jobs reports in the next few months.
“There could be some disturbance, a little bit of disturbance,” Trump cautioned Friday.
He also said the changing nature of the tariffs is a matter of governing.
“There will always be changes and adjustments,” he said. “There’ll always be some modifications. If you have a wall in front of you, sometimes you have to go around the wall instead of through it.”
