Trump warns of reciprocal tariffs on Canada's dairy, lumber

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump warned on Friday that he would impose reciprocal tariffs on Canada's dairy and lumber products unless its neighbor lowers tariffs.

"Canada has been ripping us off for years on lumber and on dairy products," Trump said in an Oval Office address, adding that the United States would match those tariffs.

"We may do it as early as today, or we'll wait until Monday or Tuesday," Trump said. "We're going to charge the same thing. It's not fair."

On Feb 1, Trump signed an executive order imposing a 25-percent tariff on products imported from Mexico and Canada, with a 10-percent tariff increase on Canadian energy products. On Feb 3, Trump announced a 30-day delay in implementing the tariffs on both countries and continued negotiations. According to this decision, the relevant tariff measures took effect on March 4.

Just two days after the tariffs took effect, Trump signed executive orders on Thursday to grant a one-month suspension of the tariffs on Mexico and Canada under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

About half of goods coming into the United States from Mexico would fall under the exemption and around 38 percent of goods from Canada would qualify, the NBC News quoted a senior administration official as saying.

When signing the executive orders at the White House, Trump told reporters that the policy adjustments would help US automakers during the "short-term transition" from now until April 2, when wide-ranging "reciprocal tariffs" will be announced.

In response, Canadian Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced later in the day that Canada will also halt its second wave of tariffs on US goods until April 2.

However, Canadian government officials have stated that the country's initial retaliatory tariffs on the United States will remain in effect, despite Trump delaying the 25-percent tariffs on certain US imports from Canada for a month. These retaliatory tariffs affect items such as US orange juice, peanut butter, coffee, appliances, footwear, cosmetics, motorcycles and more.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier this week that Canada would continue to be in a trade war with the United States for the foreseeable future.