President Trump blinked — again.

Less than two hours before 50% tariffs on a $20 billion slate of Canadian goods were due to slam into force Wednesday morning, Trump hit pause on Truth Social, declaring: “Subject to the finalisation of documents, we have a DEAL.”

The last-minute climbdown came after “very intense and delicate” talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney — the second call between the two leaders in as many days — and shelves the levies for just three days while paperwork is finalised.

The goods in the crosshairs

The threatened tariffs would have hit vehicles, dairy and alcohol — including products shielded from import taxes by the 2020 USMCA trade pact that Trump himself signed.

A Carney retaliation would have reignited the trade war sparked by Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff blitz last April, a conflict that has already seen the US Supreme Court strike down his broadest global levies in February. Trump fired back with a new universal 10% import duty on every country.

’Filthy air’ and fiery politics

When the extra 50% tariffs were first floated last month, a senior Trump official claimed Canada had shown “discrimination” against American goods.

Trump also reportedly wanted payback for the Canadian wildfires that choked US skies this summer — at one point railing that “the US is being invaded by filthy air.”

Carney: ‘substantial progress’

Carney, who had vowed to retaliate, struck a measured tone after Trump’s post, saying “substantial progress” had been made but warning there was still more to do.

It’s a sharp break from the past. Trump’s second-term approach to Canada has been an extraordinary departure from his predecessors, fraying a traditionally cooperative relationship that Carney and predecessor Justin Trudeau have refused to take lying down.

The stakes

The numbers explain the nerves. More than 75% of Canada’s exports head south — C$3.6 billion (£1.9 billion) of Canadian goods cross the border every single day. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians live in the US.

For now, the tariffs are on ice. But with just a three-day window to finalise the deal, both sides are back at the table — and Trump’s trigger finger is never far from Truth Social.