US Keeps Tariffs Hammer Locked on Canadian Goods—Because Trade Wars Are Apparently Still a Thing

Washington’s tariff standoff with Canada shows no signs of thawing—because nothing says ’post-pandemic economic recovery’ like stubborn trade barriers between allies.

Key details: No movement on lumber, aluminum, or that awkward economic tension simmering beneath the ’world’s longest undefended border’ meme.

Bonus finance jab: Treasury officials insist the tariffs are ’strategic,’ which is bureaucrat for ’we’ll remove them right after the next election cycle.’

Substantial progress has been made in US-China tariff deal

While the North American discussion played out, senior U.S. and Chinese officials were working behind closed doors in Switzerland on the deepest trade rift of all. After two days of meetings in Geneva, both sides said on Sunday that they had made real progress.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the sessions “productive and constructive.” China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng used the words “in-depth” and “candid” to describe the talks, the first face-to-face encounter since Mr. Trump hit Chinese goods with a 145 percent tariff in January. Beijing had replied with its own 125 percent charge on certain American products, jolting financial markets and raising fears of a global downturn.

Full details of the Geneva discussion are to be released jointly on Monday. Still, the tone from negotiators was upbeat. U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer said “the deal we struck with our Chinese partners” WOULD help narrow America’s 1.2 trillion-dollar trade deficit.

Bessent reported “substantial progress” on lowering the temperature of the dispute, while He Lifeng told reporters that the outcome was “of great significance to the two countries but also has an important impact on the stability and development of the global economy.”

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, inspector general of the World Trade Organization, welcomed the breakthrough. “I urge both nations to build on this momentum by continuing to develop practical solutions that mitigate tensions, restore predictability, and strengthen confidence in the multilateral trading system,” she said in a written statement.

Trump, commenting after the first day of the meetings, praised what he called a “total reset” in relations. In a social-media post on Saturday, he said the talks were “very good” and that change had been “negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner.”

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