Trump Pauses 50% Canada Tariffs 90 Minutes Before Deadline, Cites Tentative Deal

With less than two hours to go before 50% tariffs on Canadian imports were set to kick in, Donald Trump hit pause.

At 10:15 p.m. Tuesday, August 18, Trump posted on Truth Social that he was delaying the tariffs for three days, writing that Canada and the U.S., "subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL!" The tariffs had been scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, August 19, according to CNBC and the Associated Press, as carried by PBS.

The tariffs would have hit about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, everything from wine and hockey sticks to tongue depressors, per PBS. The Trump administration said the duties were payback for what it called Canadian trade discrimination against U.S. dairy, alcohol, and auto industries, according to the Epoch Times.

What Trump is claiming

Trump told reporters at the White House Wednesday that Canadian tariffs on American farm goods would be "totally eviscerated down to zero," according to ABC News. He also floated cutting U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, saying "we may bring some of the tariffs down to a level where other countries are, because Canada was paying a higher tariff."

Trump also dangled the idea of reviving the Keystone XL pipeline, the cross-border oil project Joe Biden canceled in 2021, per CNBC and TIME. He posted an AI-generated image of himself dragging a pipeline labeled "KEYSTONE" out of the ground. No formal commitment to restart the project has been confirmed by either government.

What Canada is and isn't confirming

Carney's public statements have been notably more careful than Trump's. His office said "substantial progress" had been made but that "important work" remained, according to PBS, ABC News, TIME, and the Guardian, all of which quoted the same line.

Canada's trade minister, Dominic LeBlanc, would not confirm Trump's claim that U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs were coming down, telling CNBC only that "negotiations are still ongoing." LeBlanc separately said Ottawa's priority is keeping Canada's dairy supply management system "entirely intact," per the Epoch Times, directly at odds with Washington's demand that the system change.

A White House proclamation said Canada had committed to removing measures Washington considers discriminatory against U.S. alcohol, dairy, and vehicle exports, but PBS reported Canada did not immediately confirm those specific commitments. This represents a gap between what one side announced and what the other side signed off on.

The auto tariff sticking point

Reuters, cited by Al Jazeera, reported the two sides have discussed cutting Section 232 tariffs on Canadian vehicles from 25% to 15%, with further cuts tied to U.S. content in each car. But they remain divided on how to count that content: Washington wants only U.S.-made parts counted, Canada wants all North American content included. A Canadian auto official told Reuters that even a 15% tariff is too high given auto profit margins average just 6%.

The booze angle

CTV News reported Carney has personally asked Canadian premiers to lift provincial bans on U.S. alcohol sales, one of the specific "irritants" Washington has cited. Nova Scotia's premier confirmed the ask; Quebec's premier said he doesn't have enough information yet to judge whether the broader deal is a good one.

Why nobody wants this fight

PBS reported Canada and the U.S. did $880 billion in goods and services trade last year; the Guardian put 2024 trade at roughly $909 billion using U.S. trade representative figures. Either way, nearly 72% of Canada's goods exports go to the U.S., according to PBS, giving Ottawa enormous incentive to cut a deal. Ryan Majerus, a former U.S. trade official now at King & Spalding, told PBS "there's a pretty strong push on both sides to find an off-ramp."

There's also a domestic political angle Trump can't ignore. PBS noted the tariffs, ultimately paid by U.S. importers who pass costs to consumers, would land just ahead of November's midterms, at a moment when American voters are already frustrated with the cost of living.

Businesses aren't getting much comfort either way. Candace Laing, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said the three-day delay "offered businesses some relief but fell short of the certainty a signed interim agreement would provide," telling PBS, "this limbo state is not anyone's preferred outcome."

What's actually verified versus spin

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the eventual deal will include "comprehensive market access for all American goods, economic security commitments, digital trade alignment," according to TIME and ABC News, which both quoted the USTR's own X post. That is the most specific language either government has put on record so far.

Everything else—Trump's zero-tariff farm claim, the steel and aluminum cut, Keystone XL's revival—is either unconfirmed by Canada or explicitly disputed by LeBlanc. The Guardian's coverage folded the tariff story into a broader morning briefing without probing that gap, treating Trump's numbers largely as stated fact rather than flagging LeBlanc's non-confirmation.

The three-day pause runs out Friday, August 21. If no signed agreement exists by then, the 50% tariffs are still technically live and could snap back into force, leaving Canadian exporters exactly where they started, just with less time to prepare.