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U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed not to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico for another month, pulling back from a plan that would have tipped North America into a trade war on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with Trump twice on Monday, their first discussions since the president took over the White House on Jan. 20. After what Trudeau described on social media as a "good call" in the afternoon, the two leaders agreed to pause tariffs for at least 30 days.
Trudeau released a statement on X that outlined the broad strokes of the $1.3-billion border plan his government had announced in December, adding that "nearly 10,000 front line personnel are and will be working to protect the border."
That mirrors the number of troops Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum pledged to send to the U.S. border on Monday morning when she announced that she had secured a deal with Trump to delay the tariffs on her country by one month.
Trump signed a pair of executive orders on Saturday that laid out a plan to impose 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs on Mexico and 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian goods, with a lower 10 per cent tariff on Canadian energy.
The executive orders say the levies are a response to illegal immigration and drug smuggling, and use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare an economic emergency that allows Trump to bypass Congress.
The order related to Canada says Mexican cartels are operating in the country and claims the modest amount of fentanyl intercepted at the northern border would be enough to kill "9.5 million Americans."
Trudeau said Monday that Canada will list cartels as terrorist entities.
"I have also signed a new intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl and we will be backing it with $200 million," he said on X.
Canada plans to launch a joint strike force with the U.S. to combat organized crime, fentanyl trafficking and money laundering, and will appoint a "fentanyl czar" — though Trudeau gave no indication of what that job would entail.
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