By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump at a Sunday political rally predicted a trade dispute with Canada would be resolved “soon,” without providing specifics.
At an event in Port Huron, Michigan, to boost Republican candidates ahead of the November 3 midterms, Trump and other speakers reiterated his oft-expressed position that higher tariffs on Canadian goods are needed because Canada “has been ripping off” the US in trade.
“I had to do it,” Trump told the Michigan crowd. “We’ll have that settled pretty soon. They’re willing to give us anything at this moment.”
The office of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump won in Michigan’s border region that includes Port Huron in the 2024 presidential election with more than 66% of the vote, but the local economy has felt the impacts of the US-Canada tariff standoff, including the Detroit-based US auto industry.
Republican Congressman Mike Rogers, who is running in a tight race against Democratic rival Abdul El-Sayed, has tried to distance himself from the president’s tariff policy on the auto sector.
Rogers on Sunday hailed Trump’s tariffs for securing manufacturing investments for Michigan by Chevrolet and Detroit Diesel, but said “the automobile portion of these Canadian tariffs worries me a little bit.”
“There’s some good and there’s some things we have to work on,” he told “Meet the Press.”
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington; Additional reporting by Nivedita Balu in Toronto; Editing by Sergio Non and Chris Reese)
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