@nbcnightlynews: President Donald Trump continued to send mixed signals about his tariffs plan Wednesday, granting U.S. automakers a one-month reprieve on new 25% duties imposed on Canada and Mexico, while continuing to deem Canada's efforts to tackle drug and migrant flows insufficient. In posts on his Truth Social platform, the president said that after speaking with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he had decided that the improvements Trudeau mentioned toward halting fentanyl and undocumented persons from entering the U.S. were "not good enough" to lift the duties. Shortly thereafter, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had spoken with the "Big 3" American automakers — Ford, GM and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler) — and granted them a one-month exemption on paying the 25% duties on autos produced in their Canadian or Mexican facilities. The president is set to speak with Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday. The updates contributed to a yo-yo day in stocks that saw major indexes ultimately recovering from earlier declines. Just before 2 p.m., the S&P 500 had climbed 0.67% on the day, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained about 1%. In his address to Congress on Tuesday night, Trump indicated he would not relent on his tariffs scheme. “We will take in trillions and trillions of dollars and create jobs like we have never seen before,” the president told Congress in the first State of the Union speech of his second term. Trump acknowledged there could be difficulties along the way, particularly for the agriculture industry, which has already faced retaliatory tariffs from China and Canada in response to tariffs Trump has imposed to those countries. He told farmers that there “may be a little bit of an adjustment period,” that they “will probably have to bear with me again.”

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Wednesday 05 March 2025 23:00:00 GMT