Manitobans and Canadians need more details before there can be any celebrations about no new American tariffs on Canadian goods, the president and CEO of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce said Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney each announced Tuesday night that 50 per cent tariffs on some Canadian goods would be delayed. Trump said a deal had been reached, with tariffs being delayed by three days, while Carney said significant progress had been made. “Not entirely surprised. I think we were always anticipating that it would come to this,” Chuck Davidson said in an interview Wednesday with Your Morning Winnipeg. “I’d kind of been predicting that there would be a bit of a pause and Trump would push it a little bit further if they got close to a deal.” While Davidson said it is positive to have any tariff be delayed, he wants to know what the deal might be and if there will be any benefits to Manitobans and Canadians. “Obviously, we have a level of cautious optimism. We’d like to see the details. Until the deal is signed, there’s still going to be a nervousness, obviously, amongst Canadians in the business community in terms of what that looks like, but I think we’re going in the right direction. But at no point are we ready to put up the mission accomplished sign just yet.” Davidson expects the prime minister will be chatting with premiers across the country Wednesday to brief them on what has been discussed during negotiations. He points to the American liquor ban as potentially one of the focuses in the deal, as that has drawn the ire of Trump recently. As for what else could be on the table, Davidson said the dairy industry has been a topic of conversation in the past with Trump and the auto sector could also be at the forefront of these conversations. The U.S. president also made mention of the Keystone XL pipeline in a social media post Tuesday evening. “Again, we need to see the details. We need to see exactly what this means for businesses in Manitoba and Canada before we can say this is a good deal or bad deal. I think the fact that we’re getting to a deal is a good thing because what businesses, and we’ve talked about this for the past 18 months, what they’re looking for is certainty.” Moving forward, Davidson said Canada needs to learn to not be so reliant on the States as it has been in the past, focusing on continuing to diversify the trade market. “Let’s not put all our eggs in that U.S. basket any longer.”
