Tariffs of fifty per cent on Canadian goods were due to take effect at midnight on Tuesday. Late that evening the president said on social media that he had paused them for three days, because the two countries have a deal — subject, he wrote, to the finalisation of documents. He added nothing else except a line about the Keystone XL pipeline, which he said may be awoken from the grave.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative posted its own description of what the deal would contain: comprehensive market access for American goods, economic security commitments, digital trade alignment, and provisions it said would protect the American market and American workers along with Canadian partners. No text has been published.
Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney, gave the pause an end date the president did not. In a statement he said the postponement runs until the end of the day on Friday, and that substantial progress had been made although important work remains.
The trade representative's office put the value of what the tariffs would have covered at about twenty billion dollars of American imports from Canada. NBC News listed what falls in that range — hockey sticks, some building materials, liquors, certain kinds of clothing.
The agreement came after more than a week of meetings and technical talks, and on Monday afternoon Carney was still describing those talks rather than announcing an outcome.
Why it is on the board
Sixth on the NBC News most-read list and fifteenth on the New York Times's when we collected. Note what the reader of either list actually has: three social media posts and one statement. The tariff was announced that way, the pause was announced that way, and the description of the deal was announced that way. The document that would settle what any of it means is the one thing not yet published.
확인: NBC News