President Donald Trump has announced a three-day pause on new 50 per cent tariffs that were due to take effect on Canadian goods, saying the two countries had reached an agreement (Geo News).
The pause was “based on the fact that Canada and the USA, subject to the finalisation of documents, have a DEAL,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was more measured an hour later, saying “substantial progress has been made, although there is important work still to be done.”
The gap between those two statements is the story. One party has announced a deal; the other has announced progress. A three-day pause is not a settlement — it is a deadline moved.
Trump added that the Keystone XL pipeline, cancelled by President Joe Biden in 2021 after years of indigenous and environmental opposition, “may be awoken from the grave”, without giving detail.
His post followed a call with Carney on Tuesday afternoon, their second of the week, after weeks of intense and opaque negotiations. Existing US auto tariffs had been a sticking point, according to two industry sources familiar with the talks.
For Pakistan the episode is instructive rather than direct. Islamabad is itself seeking tariff reductions from Washington, and has been increasing US imports — including crude bought by Cnergyico that accounts for about 80 per cent of the rise in Pakistan’s US import payments last fiscal year — partly to narrow its trade surplus and improve its negotiating position.
