Canada suspends certain customs duties against the United States

Canada has temporarily suspended some tariffs imposed in response to those put in place by the United States, but the government disputed the suggestion Sunday that the taxes had been quietly rolled back.

Prime Minister Mark Carney , elected on April 28 on the promise that he would stand up to his American neighbor, had imposed customs duties on billions of dollars of imported products from the United States, in response to those put in place by Donald Trump.

During the election campaign, automakers were offered a reprieve on the condition that they maintain production and investment in Canada.

This measure was announced on May 7 in the Canada Gazette, the government's official newspaper. At the same time, a pause in customs duties was implemented on products used in food and beverage processing and packaging, health, manufacturing, national security, and public safety.

Ultimately, the exemptions cover so many product categories that analysts at the specialist firm Oxford Economics estimated in a report published this week that the tariffs applied in the United States have effectively been reduced to "near zero."

Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative Party, seized on the report to accuse Mark Carney of having "quietly reduced retaliatory customs duties to 'almost zero' without telling anyone."

"Falsehoods," according to Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne. "Canada responded to the US tariffs with the greatest response in its history," he wrote on X. "70% are still in effect."

Canada's response to the tariffs "was calibrated to respond to the United States while limiting economic damage to Canada," his office added to AFP on Sunday.

The tariff relief was granted for six months to give some Canadian companies "more time to adjust their supply chains and become less dependent on American suppliers," said Audrey Milette, a spokesperson for the minister. Canada continues to apply tariffs on approximately CAD 43 billion (CHF 26 billion) of American products, she continued.

Mark Carney and US Vice President JD Vance met in Rome on Sunday to discuss trade relations between their respective countries, after attending Pope Leo XIV's inaugural Mass at the Vatican.

According to a statement from Mark Carney's office, they discussed "immediate trade pressures and the need to build a new economic and security relationship." In a brief statement, JD Vance described the meeting as "a relaxed one" focused on the two countries' shared interests and goals, "including fair trade policies."

Canada, a country of 41 million people, sends three-quarters of its exports to the United States, and Trump's tariffs are already hurting the Canadian economy, according to the latest jobs report. Donald Trump imposed 25% general tariffs and sector-specific taxes on autos, steel, and aluminum on Canada, but he has suspended some of these pending negotiations.