Reprieve may not save Canada from Trump’s 25% tariffs

TRENTON, Canada

A 30-day moratorium on 25% tariffs on goods entering the US from Canada does not mean the threat is dead, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday.

The reprieve was given after Ottawa assured US President Donald Trump that Canada would clamp down on fentanyl and illegal immigrants by securing the Canadian side of the border between the two countries.

“Fentanyl must be wiped from the face of the earth,” said Trudeau, speaking at a meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, reported Global News.

Trudeau explained the measures to be taken, including helicopter surveillance, more border agents, drug-sniffing dogs and drones.

Canadian Public Safety Minister David McGuinty will also “absolutely” appoint a so-called fentanyl czar before the tariff reprieve ends. His role will be to connect with both the Canadian and US governments to address the fentanyl crisis.

But the measures may fall short of the unpredictable Trump’s expectations.

“Our work doesn’t take the proposed tariffs off the table,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa as mayors of Canada’s biggest cities listened.

The tariff threat did pull the country together, as Canadians bristled at the attack on their country as the next-door neighbor and staunch ally of the United States.

“Blown away,” was how Trudeau described the surge in defiance to Trump’s economic threat.

“We all need to keep that spirit up because we’re not out of the woods yet,” he said. “Because we don’t just want to get through this challenging moment. We want to emerge from it stronger than ever before.”

The tariffs are slated to be enacted on March 4