On Thursday March 13 David Paterson, Ontario's representative in Washington, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., Kirsten Hillman, and federal cabinet ministers, met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to discuss the U.S. position on tariffs.
They discussed how the U.S. plans to deal with their yearly deficit in federal spending; by tackling the following three points:
A major budget resolution that calls for trillions of dollars in spending and tax cuts,
Slashing government spending through Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, and
The imposition of tariffs, which are meant to be a new revenue source and attract investment into the United States.
Paterson said the American plan is to impose tariffs by sector across countries all around the world on April 2. From there, the countries that get along with the U.S. the best will be "first in line" to adjust or mitigate the tariffs. "This is the policy. This is the way they're going forward," Paterson said. "And I think [Thursday] gave us a lot of clarity."
It was confirmed that the April 2 tariffs that the U.S. plans to impose will likely happen and that nothing has changed in terms of the ongoing trade war between Canada and the U.S.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trump-global-tariffs-canada-1.7484790