Canada pauses select US tariffs as minister denies full withdrawal

OTTAWA: Canada has temporarily paused some counter tariffs against the United States, but Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne on Sunday pushed back against claims they have all been quietly lifted.

The government of Prime Minister Mark Carney, who won Canada's April 28 election on a pledge to stand up to US President Donald Trump, had slapped counter tariffs on billions of dollars of imports from the United States in response to US tariffs on Canadian goods.

During the election campaign, automakers were offered a reprieve, provided they maintained production and investment in Canada.

This was outlined on May 7 in the Canada Gazette, the government's official newspaper, along with a pause on tariffs on products used in food and beverage processing and packaging, health, manufacturing, national security and public safety.

Oxford Economics said in a report this week that the exemptions covered so many categories of products that the tariffs rate against the United States was effectively dropped to "nearly zero."

Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre pounced on the claim, widely cited in the media, to accuse Carney of having "quietly dropped retaliatory tariffs to 'nearly zero' without telling anyone."

Champagne called those assertions "falsehoods."