Trump pauses 50% Canada tariff two hours before it hits, buying three days

Trump paused a planned wave of 50% tariffs on Canadian goods — double the 25% he put on most Canadian goods in February 2025 — until the weekend as U.S. and Canadian negotiators, meeting for a third consecutive day, worked toward a final agreement. Trump said Canada had agreed to eliminate tariffs affecting American farmers, but he did not say which agricultural sectors were involved. The coverage of the deal, the concessions on each side, and the disputes still unresolved were not made public. "We feel confident that we've reached an agreement that will not only continue to protect American workers, American jobs, American supply chains, but really strengthen the North American economy," a U.S. official said. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was more guarded, describing substantial progress while saying important work remained. Canadian negotiators had said the two sides were stuck as recently as Monday, Aug. 17.

What the paused tariff would have taxed, and what it spared:

• Hit: hockey equipment, wine, beer, milk, cheese, cement, plywood, clothing, furniture, electronics and industrial machinery — consumer goods, not raw inputs.
• Spared: energy, potash, fish and critical minerals, the categories U.S. refiners and farmers cannot easily replace.
• Legal vehicle: Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, a law that sat unused for its 96 years on the books. It lets a president tax a country's goods heavily when that country is found to discriminate against U.S. commerce.
• Unlike Trump's earlier Canada tariffs, this one would have taxed goods that the USMCA — the trade pact among the U.S Canada and Mexico — guarantees enter duty-free.