Canadian dollar jumps as Canada exempted from new US tariffs

The Canadian dollar looks like the winner of Trump’s tariff announcement.

The announcement was unclear on whether Canada would be included in the 10% baseline but CNBC confirms that both Mexico and Canada have exceptions and will remain under the current regime that allows USMCA-compliant goods to continue to enter the US tariff-free.

That’s a good chunk of good news for those countries but also for the US as those two represent a very large portion of imports into the country.

USD/CAD is quickly down to 1.4223 from 1.4315. That runs in contrast to some of the other moves and is the lowest level in that pair since Feb 24.

Canada and Mexico remain under 25% fentanyl tariffs but those don’t apply to USMCA-compliant goods, which cover most trade between the countries.

There is also the 25% tariff on finished autos but parts are excluded until early May, which I suspect is going to leave some room for negotiation. I suspect we haven’t heard the end of negotiations with this trio.

All that said, this result very much echos some of the things that White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett said, indicating that the goal was a North American trade block.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.