Canada secured a 30-day postponement in the application of U.S. tariffs on its exports on Monday afternoon just hours before they were scheduled to go into effect after a call between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and President Donald J. Trump yielded a border deal that seemed to satisfy both leaders.
Mr. Trudeau had earlier pledged to retaliate against U.S. tariffs by imposing tariffs against U.S. goods, too. In the end, he seemed to make modest concessions to Mr. Trump on the border policies, including thousands of “frontline’” personnel stationed at the border.
“I just had a good call with President Trump,” Mr. Trudeau said in a social media post that laid out the terms of the agreement. “Proposed tariffs will be paused for at least 30 days while we work together.”
The deal brought relief and de-escalation into what had turned into a brewing trade war between the two close allies and top trading partners, although its 30-day horizon did indicate that more negotiations might need to take place down the line.
Specifically, Mr. Trudeau said that Canada would create a new position for a fentanyl czar and redouble its efforts to tackle the opioid crisis — one that kills Canadians daily — by listing cartels and gangs as terrorist entities, like Mr. Trump has said he wants to do in the United States.
Canada would commit 200 million Canadian dollars, about $139 million, to fresh intelligence-gathering efforts around the fentanyl and drug trade, Mr. Trudeau said.