‘Pressure stays on:’ Feds keep counter-measures but delay second round of retaliation against Trump tariffs

Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne reacts as U.S. President Donald Trump pauses most tariffs.

The federal government is pushing back its second and larger round of retaliatory measures against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs — but just by one week — in response to his latest move to delay levies on most Canadian and Mexican goods by one month.

“As a result, Canada will not proceed with the second wave of tariffs on $125B of U.S. products until April 2nd, while we continue to work for the removal of all tariffs,” Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a post on X.

Canada has already imposed a 25 per cent tariff on $30 billion in U.S. goods — which remains in place — with another round of tariffs on a wider list of American products, valued at $125 billion, originally expected to come into effect later this month. Those tariffs have now been pushed back until April 2.

On Thursday, in a major walk-back, Trump signed an executive order to waive the 25 per cent tariff on Canadian and Mexican imports that are covered under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). According to trade experts CTV News spoke with, CUSMA covers 95 per cent of goods traded between Canada and the U.S.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said the move “is just a modification short-term.”

Trump insisted — as he has in the past — that the U.S. can be “self-sustaining” and does not need Canadian goods.

“We don’t need trees from Canada. We don’t need cars from Canada. We don’t need energy from Canada. We don’t need anything from Canada,” Trump said.

The commander-in-chief also said tariffs on steel and aluminum are still coming March 12, with reciprocal global tariffs on April 2.

Prior to the news of Trump’s latest reprieve, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada will “continue to be in a trade war that was launched by the United States for the foreseeable future” and will not relent until all tariffs are removed.

“Canada will continue to stand firm and unequivocal that as long as there are tariffs on us from the United States that are completely unjustified, we will be responding strongly,” Trudeau added.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, meanwhile, will go ahead with his province’s retaliatory measures against the U.S. despite the latest reprieve, which includes a 25 per cent surcharge on electricity shipped to 1.5 million Americans and American booze will remain off store shelves.

How did this latest reprieve happen?

A senior government source tells CTV News that LeBlanc spoke to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday to confirm the details of the reprieve.

Lutnick first floated the idea of a pause for CUSMA-covered goods at the very end of a call with Trudeau and Trump Wednesday.

Trump was joined by Lutnick and Vice-President JD Vance on the call. Trudeau conveyed to Lutnick that Canada was not prepared to move on the initial round of counter tariffs applied Tuesday, but signalled an openness to movement on the second round worth $125 billion.

According to the source, the call ended with Trudeau suggesting Lutnick and Leblanc continue the conversation, as they did throughout the day on Wednesday.

The federal negotiating team ended the day confident that Trump would announce a pause.

Industry minister says ‘pressure stays on’

Despite this latest reprieve, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Canada will continue to push the U.S. to remove all tariffs, and countermeasures will continue as long as the threat remains.

“The pressure stays on. The Prime Minister has been clear on that,” Champagne said in an interview with CTV’s Power Play on Thursday prior to reading the text of Trump’s executive order.

“You know, the only way you can make that work is to keep the pressure because I think that is the kind of language that has been understood,” he also said.

Champagne also said the economy “cannot have uncertainty as the new certainty.”

“What we need to restore is stability and predictability, and that’s our message also to our U.S. counterpart,” Champagne said. “What we want is not just a pause, is a removal of the tariffs.”

Will automakers move to the U.S.?

On Wednesday, Trump granted a 30-day exemption for tariffs on the “Big Three” automakers: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.

Following the move, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s expectation is that those companies will begin moving production to the U.S. as soon as possible, despite the fact that the North American automotive supply chain is highly integrated.

“He told them that they should get on it, start investing, start moving, shift production here to the United States of America, where they will pay no tariff,” Leavitt said. “That’s the goal.”

Champagne said he spoke to the CEOs of those three automakers Thursday morning.

Asked by Kapelos whether the companies have given him any assurances that they’re going to stay in Canada, Champagne said “there is the rhetoric and there is the industrial reality,” adding, “Canada is a very competitive place to be.”

“I was very clear with them today. I said, you bet we’re going to fight for these plants and these mandates in Canada. We’ve been doing cars for decades,” he said.

When pressed again if he was given explicit assurance from the automakers that they will keep manufacturing in Canada, Champagne said “they know that we would go after them.”

With files from CTV News Chief Political Correspondent Vassy Kapelos and CTV Power Play Senior Producer Rachel Swatek-Tsang