Tariffs to remain in any Canada-U.S. trade deal, says Trump’s trade rep

It appears Canada may be stuck with Donald Trump’s tariffs for now, despite a U.S. court ruling striking them down.

The U.S. president reaffirmed his commitment to tariffs in the annual State of the Union address Tuesday, saying he will use different legislation to justify the levies.

“An unfortunate ruling from the United States Supreme Court — It just came down, it came down. Very unfortunate ruling,” said Trump.

Criticizing the top court’s call, Trump said he will press ahead with his global tariff regime.

“It will remain in place under fully approved and tested alternative legal statutes,” said Trump.

Five days ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal for Trump to use a piece of emergency economic legislation to impose his so-called “liberation day” tariffs and fentanyl-related duties on Canada, Mexico and China.

Hours later, he enacted a 10 per cent worldwide tariff using a different law and the following day he promised to up the tariff to 15 per cent, though he hasn’t followed through yet.

“Congressional action will not be necessary,” said Trump. “It’s already time tested and approved.”

Trump’s trade representative Jamieson Greer also affirmed the administration’s tariff commitment, telling the CBC after the address, that Canada will have to accept a higher level of tariffs as part of any trade deal, as America prioritizes increasing domestic manufacturing.

When asked about a deal with Canada Wednesday morning, Greer said Canadian officials have shared with him some thoughts on a future deal.

READ MORE: Trump defends controversial policies, tariffs in State of the Union

“The Canadians — I was in contact with my counterpart just this morning — he’s going to come to town in a couple weeks,” said Greer. “They have a few ideas on how they might want to have a deal with us — we’re obviously open to that. We really want to focus on reshoring here.”

The minister for Canada-U.S. trade Dominic LeBlanc hasn’t commented on this Wednesday’s reported phone call with Greer.

But last Friday, he said the supreme court’s rebuke of the tariffs “reinforces” Canada’s position that the levies are unjustified.

“A tariff on Canada is a tax on Americans — they know it, they’re feeling the crunch down there,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Asked about Greer’s comments, Ford reiterated his stance that tariffs should be reciprocal saying, “they want to tariff us, I say we tariff ’em back.”

“We definitely — we Canada, Canada and the United States — been moving backwards in the whole tenure of free trade,” said political analyst Drew Fagan with McMillan Vantage.

Fagan said he expects this summer’s review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade deal (CUSMA) to be a renegotiation, not a renewal, but he doesn’t expect Trump to completely cancel CUSMA.

“I think U.S. business would be up in arms to the extent that he would face real challenges, and of course, politically he’s not very popular right now,” said Fagan.

The latest polling shows Trump’s approval rating sitting below 40 per cent.

Meanwhile, tariffs on the steel, aluminum and automotive sectors, as well as on copper, lumber, furniture and semiconductors remain — justified by Trump under another American law as necessary for national security.

WATCH MORE: Trump says 10 per cent global tariff coming after Supreme Court ruling