White House says ’no exemptions’ as Canada braces for new wave of U.S. tariffs

WASHINGTON — White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday there will be “no exemptions” to U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest moves to upend global trade this week and it remains unclear just what duties will fall on Canada.

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Global markets have been rattled by confusion over how Trump will pursue his global trade agenda.

Trump has said Wednesday will be “Liberation Day” — the day when he intends to impose “reciprocal” tariffs by increasing U.S. duties to match the tax rates that other countries charge on imports.

A White House official confirmed that no decision has been made on whether Trump will reinstate on the same day economy-wide tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which he has linked to the flow of fentanyl.

Earlier this month, Trump hit Canada and Mexico with 25 per cent across-the-board duties, with a lower 10 per cent levy on Canadian energy – then partly paused the tariffs a few days later. Trump said at the time that the pause would last until April 2.

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Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine said Friday he would force a vote on Trump’s use of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, also called IEEPA, to declare an emergency at the northern border in order to hit Canada with tariffs.

In an opinion piece published in the Washington Post, Kaine wrote that “the president is using the fake emergency as a smoke screen to collect tariff revenue that he can use to fund a massive tax cut for the uber-rich.”

IEEPA includes a provision allowing any senator to force a vote to block emergency powers. While it might not stop Trump’s declaration of an emergency at the northern border, the vote would force Republican senators to publicly record their opinion of the measure.

U.S. government data shows the volume of fentanyl seized at the northern border is minuscule. The Annual Threat Assessment report, released last week, does not mention Canada in its section on illicit drugs and fentanyl.

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Reciprocal tariffs aren’t the only ones set to launch this week. Thursday will bring Trump’s 25 per cent levies on automobiles.

The White House official said any carve-out for cars made with American parts under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade will not be in place until there is “a system set up to gauge how much of each finished car is made with foreign components.”

Earlier in March, Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, including product from Canada.

The White House official said many of those duties would stack on top of each other if economy-wide tariffs return. Any cars or automobile parts that don’t fall under the continental trade pact’s rules will be hit with double duties, the official said. The White House previously said levies on steel and aluminum will jump to 50 per cent.

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It’s not at all clear what reciprocal tariffs will mean for countries that trade with the United States. On Sunday, Trump suggested there could be lower levies days after the Wednesday deadline.

“The tariffs will be far more generous than those countries were to us, meaning they will be kinder than those countries were to the United States of America over the decades,” Trump said on Air Force 1.

The tariff uncertainty caused market swings around the world Monday, with the S&P 500 down 0.4 per cent and the Nasdaq composite down 1.2 per cent.

Canadian officials have been connecting with members of Trump’s team to gain insight into how those duties will roll out. Ontario Premier Doug Ford spoke with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week but said he was not given any details.

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“I think he has an idea, or maybe he doesn’t. That’s even scarier if he doesn’t,” Ford said last Thursday.

This week’s tariff speculation comes after Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney had their first phone conversation — which seemed to offer hope for setting the bilateral relationship on a less adversarial path.

Trump spent months repeatedly saying Canada should become a U.S. state and referring to former prime minister Justin Trudeau as a “governor.”

Trump described the Friday call with Carney as “very good” and said he thinks “things are going to work out very well between Canada and the United States.” Carney said the two leaders agreed to begin negotiations on a new economic and security relationship immediately after the federal election on April 28.

But when asked about the impact his tariffs are having on the American economy, Trump on Sunday repeated his complaints about Canada.

“We don’t need energy from Canada. We don’t need lumber from Canada. We don’t need anything from Canada. We don’t need cars from Canada, as an example,” Trump said. “So I think we’re going to have, what I call it, the golden age of America.”

— With files from the Associated Press

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