U.S. President Donald Trump announced today that tariffs against Canada will be delayed until early April.
The tariffs were originally going to go into effect in February. They were then delayed by 30 days and were to kick in next week. This is the third delay.
During a cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump responded to a reporter’s question about whether he would continue the pause on tariffs against Canada and Mexico.
Trump confirmed that he was not going to stop the tariffs due to the U.S. having “lost millions of people due to fentanyl.”
However, he seemingly pushed back the start date of enacting the tariffs on Canada until the spring.
Trump appears to suggest tariffs on Canada have been pushed back to April 2nd (not April 1st because he’s superstitious).
He also adds that fentanyl is apparently once again his top issue for talks with Canada. pic.twitter.com/IIFRCFmoSX
— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) February 26, 2025
“I have to tell you that, you know, on April 2 — I was going to do it on April 1, but I’m a little bit superstitious; I made it April 2 — the tariffs go on, not all of them, but a lot of them. And I think you’re going to see something that’s going to be amazing,” said Trump.
This comes just days after Trump confirmed that tariffs will proceed against Canada as early as the first week of March.
“We’ve been taken advantage of as a country for a long period of time,” Trump added. “We’ve been tariffed, but we didn’t tariff. Now, I did. When I was here, I tariffed. We took in $700 billion from China — $700 billion! Not one president in the history of our country took in 10 cents from China. At the same time, China respected us.”
The U.S.’s promise to slap tariffs on Canada has plunged the country into economic uncertainty. Earlier this month, Trump signed orders to impose 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, which are scheduled to kick in on March 12.
Before this, the president had threatened to charge 25 per cent on most Canadian products imported into the U.S., except energy, which would be subject to a 10 per cent tariff.
After a phone call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on February 3, the all-encompassing tariffs have been paused for at least 30 days as negotiations continue.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Data Lab (BDL) released a report analyzing which cities in Canada will be hit the hardest by these tariffs.
“Canada and the U.S. have built a highly integrated and mutually beneficial economic relationship over more than a century, with cross-border trade playing a critical role in both economies,” reads the report.
“Our updated modelling suggests that Trump’s tariff would cause significant economic problems for Canadians and Americans — potentially even causing a recession.”
The BDL also ranked the 41 Canadian cities from most to least vulnerable to the US tariffs.
Saint John, N.B., takes first place with a 131.1 per cent chance of being slammed by tariffs, followed by Calgary at 81.6 per cent.
Matt Poirier, vice president of government relations at the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), explained how the 25 per cent tariffs could impact food prices and jobs in Canada.
“This is all having a depressive effect on the Canadian dollar…that impacts grocery because this is the time of year when grocers are spending the most importing food from the US, so for produce, mainly,” Poirier said.
“With that lower Canadian dollar, their buying power has already been affected. We don’t even have tariffs, so that’s contributing to increased costs for food. So, yes, we’re looking at this, and we’re really worried for another round of food inflation.”
Tariffs could weaken the country’s economy in the next two years, says Bank of Canada (BoC) governor Tiff Macklem.
While speaking to members of the Mississauga Board of Trade and the Oakville Chamber of Commerce on Friday, Feb. 21, Macklem highlighted the uncertainties brought about by tariff threats and compared its potential impact to the pandemic.
“In the pandemic, we had a steep recession followed by a rapid recovery as the economy reopened. This time, if tariffs are long-lasting and broad-based, there won’t be a bounce-back,” he stated.
video still. With files from Isabelle Docto.
