White House Welcomes Canada's Move to End Retaliatory Tariffs

The White House on Friday said it welcomed a report that Canada would remove many retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods as a goodwill gesture designed to restart stalled trade talks.

"We welcome this move by Canada, which is long overdue. We look forward to continuing our discussions with Canada on the Administration's trade and national security concerns," a White House official said.

Canadian tariffs on U.S. autos, steel and aluminum will remain for now, said a source, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is scheduled to give a press conference at noon Eastern Time on Friday.

The news helped the Canadian dollar extend its gains and by 11:05 a.m. it was up 0.5% at C$1.3837 to the U.S. dollar, or 72.27 U.S. cents.

Canada has been holding talks with the United States on a new economic and security relationship for months but the two sides are not close to a deal.

Carney won an April election on the back of a promise to stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs but since then has gradually taken a softer tone.

In late June he scrapped a proposed digital services tax that U.S. companies strongly disliked and in July dropped talk of further sanctions if the two sides could not reach a deal by August 1.

Carney spoke to Trump on Thursday for the first time since June and held what his office called a productive conversation.

Carney's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Canada would be dropping counter tariffs against goods that are compliant with the trilateral U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal, the source said.

The news could be a political challenge for Carney, whose ruling Liberals only have a minority of seats in the House of Commons elected chamber and rely on opposition parties to survive votes of confidence.

The leader of the Conservatives, the largest opposition party, this week accused Carney of taking too soft an approach with the United States.

Carney's predecessor as prime minister, Justin Trudeau, imposed 25% tariffs on $21 billion in goods imported annually from the U.S. on March 6 in response to Trump's initial duties.

The C$30 billion was part of an overall retaliation plan to target C$155 billion worth of imported goods from the U.S., though the remaining C$125 billion has been delayed.