Trump says Canada trade deal coming ‘soon’

A trade agreement between the United States and Canada would be reached “pretty soon,” President Donald Trump told a campaign rally on Sunday, nine days ahead of crucial US midterm elections.

Tensions between the North American neighbours have been high since trade talks broke down in August, with Trump imposing a slew of new tariffs in response.

“We’ll have that settled pretty soon. They’re willing to give us anything at this moment,” the president said of an agreement during the rally in Port Huron, a Michigan town on the US-Canada border hit hard by his tariff war.

Trump once again defended his levies on Canada and accused it of “ripping off the United States for years.”

The tariffs enforced after the August talks broke down impacted around US$20 billion worth of goods, ranging from hockey sticks to cement.

In response, Canada imposed tolls on an equivalent amount of American products, leading Trump to retaliate with another round of levies of as much as 50% on certain goods.

The White House removed some of them on Friday, in response to a request from Senator Susan Collins who represents the border state of Maine, which has been disproportionately impacted by the trade war.

Democrats are targeting Collins’s seat in their attempt to win control of the Senate from the Republicans in next Tuesday’s midterms.

Since the start of his second term, Trump has upended the global trade order by imposing wide-ranging tariffs on friend and foe, saying they had been taking advantage of the United States.

He has also explicitly tied some threatened tariffs to political or foreign policy objectives.