Breaking on CNBC
- “I think it’s likely it will cover all USMCA-compliant goods and services,” he said of a delay on tariffs
- Said he and Trump would be speaking with their Mexican counterparts later Thursday
- Expects the announcement today
- After April 2, we will move to reciprocal tariffs
- Hopefully by April 2, Mexico and Canada will have done enough
This looks like an end to the tariff war for now. The USMCA covers pretty much everything that crosses the border. He added some tough talk about dairy after April 2 but the reality is that within the USMCA there are very, very few tariffs, less than 0.5% of what crosses the border is subject to any kind of tariffs. So a one-month deferral followed by a ‘reciprocal’ regime pretty much ends it all, though we’ll see.
- Says over 50% of Mexico and Canada imports are USMCA compliant but he’s just guessing (I think he’s underestimating as it’s over 90%, though they might be trying to use some weird calculation)
Trudeau is quickly responding to Lutnick’s comments and says they’re ‘promising’ and align with some of the conversations we’ve been having with administration officials.
Separately, he made some very telling comments about robotics. He was pressed on how the US will be able to bring back factories and maintain competitiveness. He said it’s because robots will be doing the jobs.
Then he pivoted to saying there would be ‘millions’ of jobs supervising those robots. That doesn’t make any sense.
This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.
