First Thing: Trump in Canada tariff backdown after ‘substantial progress’ made on trade deal

US president cancelled planned tariff imposition just hours before it was to come into force.

Plus, why are people so obsessed with television vampires? Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here Good morning.

Donald Trump has paused his threatened punitive tariff on Canada just hours before it was due to come into effect.

After Trump’s announcement, the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, said “substantial progress” had been made towards a trade deal, but more work was needed.

Tuesday’s 11th-hour backdown comes after a contentious year for the two countries, with the longstanding alliance strained by tit-for-tat tariffs and online broadsides in which Trump has mused about wanting to turn Canada into a US state.

How much trade do the two countries do? Historically, Canada and the US have been strong trading partners.

In 2024, trade between the countries was estimated to be roughly $909bn, according to the office of the US trade representative.

What else happened in Florida’s elections? Byron Donalds, a congressman backed by Trump, won the Republican nomination for governor in the race to succeed Ron DeSantis.

Donalds trounced three reasonably prominent Republican rivals, including Jay Collins, DeSantis’s handpicked lieutenant governor.

If he wins the November election, as he is expected to do in the conservative stronghold, Donalds would become the first Black governor in any southern US state.

Continue reading...