Trump says he may impose reciprocal tariffs on Canadian lumber, dairy soon

ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump on Friday said that he may implement reciprocal tariffs on Canadian dairy products and lumber as soon as Friday.

“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. So that’s not going to happen anymore,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.

“They’ll be met with the exact same tariff unless they drop it, and that’s what reciprocal means.

"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. We’re going to charge the same thing. It’s not fair,” he added.

Trump's remarks came after he implemented 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and also doubled the already imposed 10% tariffs on China to 20%.

He later signed an executive order Thursday that delayed those tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods covered under a free trade agreement for a month.

In an effort to reverse what he claimed was a decline under his predecessor, Joe Biden, Trump defended his tariff policy on Friday, claiming that it was helping to boost domestic manufacturing employment in the US, particularly with the car industry.

“We’ve not only stopped that manufacturing collapse, but we’ve begun to rapidly reverse it and get major gains,” Trump said. “We created almost 9,000 new jobs in the auto production field. And the reason for that is largely they think things are happening, so they’re already geared up.”