President Donald Trump greets Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney during a Gaza summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Oct. 13, 2025.
Evan Vucci | Afp | Getty Images
President Donald Trump late Tuesday suspended the imposition of 50% tariffs on certain Canadian imports in the United States, shortly before the tariffs were set to take effect at midnight.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said this was “based on the fact that, subject to finalization of the documents, Canada and the US have a DEAL!”
This announcement came after Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney held trade talks on Tuesday.
In his post, Trump also suggested that the Keystone XL pipeline could be “raised from the grave!” The pipeline is an extension of a pipeline system in Canada and the United States.
Trump approved the project in his first term, but former President Joe Biden revoked the permits in 2021.
The 50% tariffs would have affected imports of hockey sticks, wine and a range of other Canadian imports and were introduced last month in response to what the Trump administration described as Canadian trade discrimination in the automobile, alcohol and dairy industries.
They were imposed under Section 338 of the Customs Act of 1930, a Depression-era law that was rarely if ever invoked and neglected for decades.
According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the new tariffs would have covered about $20 billion in Canadian imports.
While that’s just a fraction of the $382 billion the U.S. imported from Canada last year, the high price of targeted products could still pose significant challenges for Canadian sellers.
“A 50% tariff essentially makes it uneconomic to sell a product in a given market,” said Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, in an interview with CNBC.
Many of the group’s 103,000 members said the new tariffs could “kill their U.S. sales” if implemented, Kelly said. Some companies were already reporting that U.S. buyers were holding back future orders in anticipation of the new tariffs, he said.
Trump has already imposed various tariffs on Canada and its specific exports, including metals, lumber and auto parts. Trump also imposed steep tariffs on Canada over alleged drug trafficking concerns, but the Supreme Court overturned them in February.
But the Section 338 tariffs “really go to the heart of small business trade between Canada and the United States” because so many of the products affected are consumer-oriented, Kelly said.
“It is deeply concerning for many Canadian companies,” he said.
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Some of the Trump administration’s tariffs on Canada include exemptions for goods that are compliant with the USMCA trilateral North American trade agreement.
Last month, the Trump administration said it would not extend the trade deal, triggering a series of annual reviews that raise questions about the treaty’s future.
Neil Herrington, senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for the Americas, said in a statement Tuesday morning that new higher tariffs would “harm both economies, drive up costs for U.S. families, further disrupt critical supply chains and threaten the 13 million American jobs that depend on trade” under the USMCA.
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