Less than two hours before crushing new U.S. tariffs were set to take effect on US$28 billion worth of Canadian goods, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a three-day pause. “Businesses will breathe a sigh of cautious relief tonight,” Jairo Yunis, policy director for the Business Council of B.C., told CTV News following the announcement Tuesday evening. Trump announced the pause on his social media website Truth Social, saying subject to finalization, the two countries have a deal. He also hinted that the Keystone XL pipeline “may be awoken from the grave.” “These tariffs would have disproportionately hit B.C. compared to other provinces, so a pause is welcome,” said Yunis. “Now having said that, a pause is not a deal. A pause is just a stay of execution, and we have seen pauses collapse before.” Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged the pause in a statement on social media, writing that “substantial progress has been made, although there is important work still to be done.” The most detailed early account of what the deal could include came from U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer. “The deal will include comprehensive market access for all American goods, economic security commitments, digital trade alignment, and many important provisions that will continue to protect our market and American workers, along with our Canadian partners,” Greer wrote on X. B.C.’s forest industry was among the first sectors to respond to the late-breaking developments. “We’re pleased to hear that there continues to be what sounds like positive conversations between Canada and the United States, so we’ll take these extra couple of days to hope we get the right deal,” Kim Haakstad, president of the B.C. Council of Forest Industries, told CTV News following the announcement. But Haakstad tempered high hopes by highlighting the uncertainty that still looms. “It’s challenging for communities who are concerned about whether businesses are going to continue to operate and provide jobs,” Haakstad said. “And it’s challenging for businesses, because it’s very hard to plan when there’s a stroke-of-the-pen risk that the rules in which you do your trade could change in any moment.” While this temporary reprieve is largely being welcomed, some worry now for how long, and what will be conceded in an eventual deal.
