Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called trade talks with the United States "complex" in his initial reaction to President Donald Trump's surprise announcement ending all negotiations and slapping possible new tariffs.
"We'll keep having these complex negotiations in the interests of Canadians," Carney said in a statement to local journalists. "It's a negotiation."
Trump made the announcement on Friday that the U.S. would immediately halt trade negotiations with Canada, accusing the country of its new digital services tax on American tech giants as the reason, said Xinhua News Agency.
Calling the tax a "direct and blatant attack on the United States," Trump expressed his strong objection on social media.
Canada's digital services tax, which is due to take effect on June 30, will compel the likes of Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber, and Airbnb to pay a 3% tax on revenues from Canadian users.
The negotiations between Ottawa and Washington have been ongoing in a bid to get Trump to lift already-imposed tariffs on Canadian exports—actions which have already started to have a big impact on Canada's economy.
Latest statistics from Statistics Canada indicated that the nation's real GDP fell 0.1% in April. Its transportation equipment manufacturing industry was the largest drag on growth, with a significant decrease in passenger car and light truck shipments. The drop came as the production slowdowns by automakers are said to be in response to increasing uncertainty regarding U.S. tariffs on auto exports.
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