Most of Canada’s retaliatory tariffs against the United States came down on Monday, in keeping with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s announcement last month.

Carney announced that many of Canada’s tariffs on its biggest trading partner, on goods that comply with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico (CUSMA) trade agreement, will come down starting Sept. 1.

He said this was after he and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to “intensify” stalled trade talks.

In February, Trump signed an executive order to levy broad-based, sweeping tariffs on Canada. The Canadian government responded immediately with then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing counter-tariffs against Washington.

“Few other countries followed suit” in imposing tariffs on the U.S., Carney said.

Carney said Canada’s move was to “match’ U.S. tariffs, which remain in place and went up from 25 per cent to 35 per cent last month. The U.S. granted exemptions to Canada under CUSMA-compliant goods, but has placed tariffs on certain key Canadian sectors.

Canada’s counter-tariffs on U.S. auto, steel and aluminum remain.

Carney said Canada and the United States have “re-established free trade for the vast majority of our goods.”

While Canada’s average tariff rate with the U.S. is higher than it was this time last year, “it is still better than that of any country,” he added.

“As we work to address outstanding trade issues with the United States, it’s important — it’s vital — we do everything we can to preserve this unique advantage for Canadian workers, Canadian businesses,” Carney told reporters in Ottawa last month.

Trump called the move “nice” while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office soon after Carney’s announcement and said he would be speaking again with Carney “soon.”

“We’re working on something,” he said.

“We want to be very good to Canada. I like Carney a lot. I think he’s a good, good person and we had a very good talk yesterday.”

With the removal of these tariffs, Canadians could see prices on some groceries come down relatively quickly, said University of Guelph food economist Mike Von Massow.

Most of Canada’s counter-tariffs on the U.S. have now ended – National | Globalnews.ca