'Cheated and got caught': Trump accuses Canada of charging US farmers 400% tariff

Donald Trump accused Canada of cheating US farmers and charging them as much as a 400 per cent tariff. His comments come after the country’s ad claiming Ronald Reagan did not like tariffs, while Trump says the former US president was of a different opinion. “Canada cheated and got caught. He (Reagan) loved tariffs for our country, and its national security. Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our country,” he wrote in a Truth Social post.

He added, “Now they, and other countries, can’t take advantage of the U.S. any longer. Thank you to the Ronald Reagan Foundation for exposing this fraud. Make America great again.” Soon after Trump was seen lauding his tariff strategy. Ever since he assumed office for the second term, he has been headstrong about a few new policies, and one among them is the tariff. The current US administration believes that if anybody wants to trade with their country, they have to pay the tariff levied on them, which, of course, is different based on what Trump deems fit. And now, in his latest comment, he said tariffs have made America’s “stock market stronger than ever.”

It's not only Canada, but many countries are on the US President's list. Trump has been changing norms on tariffs, and China has been on the yo-yo effect list. On October 17, the US President said that the 100 per cent proposed tariff on Chinese goods entering the American market was not a permanent decision. He said that it was a measure he had to resort to to pressure Beijing ahead of his meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. “A 100% tariff is not sustainable; they (China) forced me to do that,” Trump told Fox Business Network in an interview.

It was on October 10 that Trump announced a 100 per cent tariff on China and said it would be effective from November 1. And now, the 79-year-old said it was only to pressure China. In his social media post, Trump wrote, “Given China’s unprecedented stance, the United States will impose a 100 per cent tariff on China, in addition to any tariffs currently in place.”