U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are set to speak Monday afternoon, the day before 25 per cent tariffs are set to kick in on Canadian goods and 10 per cent on energy.
Trump officially imposed the tariffs Saturday evening on Canada, Mexico and China, to take effect Tuesday.
In response, Canada plans to implement its own 25 per cent tariffs on $155 billion worth of American goods.
However, Monday morning there was some headway made for Mexico.
In a post on X, President Claudia Sheinbaum says she and Trump had a “good conversation” and tariffs for Mexico have been postponed for one month.
She says they have reached a series of agreements.
These include more reinforcements at the border to prevent drug trafficking – in particular, fentanyl- preventing trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico and working on security and trade.
Nova Scotia’s response
Premier Tim Houston says as of Monday, the tolls at the Cobequid Pass will double for commercial vehicles coming into the U.S.
In addition to that, starting Tuesday, the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission will remove all U.S. alcohol from their shelves and the province will scale back business with the U.S.
“We will explore options to cancel existing contracts and reserve the right to reject bids outright in response to President Trump’s unlawful tariffs,” Houston stated.
The province will also limit access to its procurement process for American businesses.
How will tariffs effect Halifax?
If tariffs do take effect, Halifax’s mayor is encouraging you to do simple things like buying local and vacationing here at home.
Andy Fillmore tells our newsroom how we can best respond really is about reinvesting in our own economy.
“We have, for example, cucumber growers right here in Nova Scotia that grow cucumbers year-round. You can get them at Costco and a local source… we don’t need to be buying cucumbers from California. People are going to soon be planning their summer vacation season. So, we can encourage people to book vacations right here in Halifax and in Nova Scotia.”
Fillmore adds, Canada should also lift trade barriers between provinces so that we can have free trade within our own country.
What will a prolonged trade war mean for Halifax?
It really is a wait and see approach.
Fillmore says if the trade war lasts a long time, then there will likely be impacts on jobs.
“And, my goodness, that means we just have to work all the harder not to have that outcome.”
But he says he is encouraged by what the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission has done, by removing all American alcohol.
“I’d like to see that across our retail spectrum.”
Optimistic
Fillmore says people are working very hard to make a case that [imposing tariffs] is not in Trumps best interest.
“I think that if we all keep working hard in government to make the case to the U.S. government that we can get a better outcome and while we do that, we can all buy local.”
With files from Tara Clow, Brad Pery and Evan Taylor
