A sign for the Food And Drug Administration is seen outside of the headquarters on July 20, 2020 in White Oak, Maryland. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — At least 55 people have been sickened in a salmonella and E. coli outbreak linked to alfalfa sprouts in 15 states, health officials said Friday.
At least 4 people have been hospitalized.
The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have posted an official outbreak notice on their websites.
Forty-six people were infected with E. coli, seven people were infected with salmonella and two individuals were infected with both salmonella and E. coli, officials said.
Illnesses started on dates ranging from May 31 to Aug. 8, officials said. The true number of people sick is likely higher than the numbers reported.
“The illnesses have been linked to eating alfalfa sprouts produced by Everything Sprouts, a Minnesota grower, and sold under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brands to restaurants and grocery stores,” Minnesota’s Department of Health said in a statement. “Health officials recommend people check for alfalfa sprouts from Calco or Everything Sprouts, not eat them, and throw them away.”
On Aug. 19, the FDA initiated an inspection and sample collection at Everything Sprouts, recommending the company conduct a recall. The FDA is warning consumers and retailers not to eat or serve the contaminated products.
The FDA had warned Everything Sprouts last year of “serious violations” following an inspection the agency had conducted at its facility. Inspectors determined the company had “insanitary conditions whereby [produce] may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby they may have been rendered injurious to heath.”
FDA inspectors said they had found multiple problems, including roof leaks with water dripping onto produce and clean employee smocks. There was also “build-up of black organic matter” on a hose of the overhead irrigation system for produce, inspectors said.
ABC News has reached out to Everything Sprouts for comment.
Lindsay Clancy listens to testimony at Plymouth Superior Court on August 18, 2026. (Photo by Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
(BOSTON) — Lindsay Clancy’s defense attorney rested their case on Friday after calling one final witness to testify about the effects of postpartum psychosis.
Prosecutors are now calling three additional witnesses as part of a brief rebuttal case, and closing arguments could happen as early as Monday.
Forensic psychiatrist Phillip Resnick, who reviewed Clancy’s medical records and evaluated her several months after the killings, at the request of the defense, testified Friday that he believes Clancy was in the throes of postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children and attempted to take her own life in January 2023.
Resnick told jurors that in his opinion, Clancy was unable to tell the difference between right and wrong and lacked control at that time.
Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of her 5-year-old daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson, and infant son Callan, who died after being strangled by Clancy at the family’s home in the Boston suburb of Duxbury on Jan. 24, 2023.
Defense lawyers do not contest that Clancy was responsible for the deaths of her three children, instead arguing she should not be held criminally responsible for their deaths because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings.
Resnick is a professor of psychiatry who has researched postpartum psychosis and testified as a key witness in the trial of Andrea Yates, a Texas mother accused of drowning her five children in a bathtub in 2001. He also served as a consultant on the cases of notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, Oklahoma City bombing culprit Timothy McVeigh, “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski, and the high profile murder cases of Scott Peterson and Casey Anthony, according to his biography.
Resnick testified Friday that, in his opinion, Clancy was not “psychotic every minute she was functioning” on the day of the killings but suffered a “command hallucination” after her then-husband Patrick Clancy left their family home to run errands that evening.
“My opinion is that Miss Clancy was, due to her mental disease, unable to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law on the day that she took the lives of her children,” he told jurors. “It was a matter where she was just following the command rather than being able to make any decision to do it or not.”
Resnick testified that Clancy, in his opinion, experienced “not only a command hallucination on the day that she killed her children” but also “a delusion of influence.”
“She felt that her body was taken over by an external force, where she was in a dream state and did not have control of her own body — it’s almost like she was a puppet, and someone else was pulling the strings,” he told jurors.
He added, “At the time of the crime itself on Jan. 24, 2023, Ms. Clancy was frankly psychotic. So, in that sense, she had a postpartum psychosis.”
Resnick further testified that Clancy “was obsessive about caring for her children” and likely believed her children “would be in terrible shape” if she only took her own life that day.
“In her mind, she believed that she would be doing her children a favor by having them go to heaven with her rather than remain on earth without her doing the mothering,” he testified.
Jurors are set to hear closing arguments and begin deliberating early next week, after both sides rest their cases.
Earlier this week, on Thursday, jurors heard from a hospital chaplain who testified that she met with Clancy more than 200 times in the past three years since she killed her three children.
Sheila Cavanaugh, a board-certified chaplain at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, testified that Clancy had told her she heard a “persistent” male voice ordering her to kill her children and herself in the months before she strangled them and attempted to take her own life.
Cavanaugh’s testimony came after jurors heard from defense witness Paul Zeizel earlier in the week, who also testified about Clancy’s claim she heard a voice telling her to kill her children.
Prosecutors have attempted to cast doubt on Clancy’s claim that she heard a male voice in her head telling her to kill her children and take her own life prior to the killings. According to Reddington, prosecutors have also suggested that Zeizel planted the idea Clancy heard a voice telling her to kill her children during their first meeting, two days before she made a similar comment to her husband over the phone.
Reddington has pushed back on that allegation, and an officer who stood guard outside Clancy’s hospital room testified previously that there was no evidence Zeizel planted the idea.
As the case nears its end, thousands have come to Clancy’s support online, and hundreds of supporters dressed in pink rallied outside the courthouse and the state hospital where Clancy is being held on Thursday.
A fundraiser for Clancy’s parents had raised $996,000 as of Friday morning.
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. Free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You are not on your own.
Austin Metcalf in a family provided photo. (Metcalf Family)
(FRISCO, Texas) — A Texas judge is hearing arguments Thursday on whether Karmelo Anthony should get a new trial, two months after a jury convicted and sentenced him to 35 years in prison for fatally stabbing a fellow student at a high school track meet.
The hearing comes a day after the Collin County judge who presided over the murder trial was removed from further proceedings in the case.
Prosecutors called the deadly stabbing “unjustified” and “plain and simple murder,” while the defense argued that Anthony acted in self-defense when he stabbed 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a track meet in Frisco in April 2025.
After hearing four days of testimony, a Collin County jury found Anthony, 19, guilty of murder following three hours of deliberation on June 9. The same jury sentenced him to 35 years in prison after several more hours of deliberation.
Anthony’s attorneys claimed in a motion seeking a new trial that the teen was “coerced” into waiving his right to testify, stemming from a purported dispute between defense attorneys and prosecutors about whether his testimony would be covered by an agreement limiting some character evidence in the trial. Defense attorneys alleged this denied him a “complete defense.”
The defense also alleged that Collin County Judge John Roach improperly instructed the jury and that his courtroom restrictions, which limited public access to the proceedings, denied Anthony a fair trial.
In a statement to ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA ahead of this week’s hearings, Collin County First Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye said Anthony’s new, post-trial attorneys “filed a motion containing several inaccurate characterizations of the trial proceedings.”
“I and the entire prosecution team conducted this trial ethically and in full compliance with the Court’s ruling and any agreements with defense counsel,” Wirskye added.
In opening remarks during Thursday’s hearing, defense attorney Russell Wilson said Anthony decided not to testify because he believed the prosecution would not adhere to the agreement not to question him about his past behavior, beyond what happened during the confrontation at the track meet, WFAA reported.
Wirskye, meanwhile, said he offered the agreement to “stay away from historical character and stick to the facts — what happened under the tent” in order to “keep the peace” amid what he said was intense public vitriol over the case that led to threats against both sides, WFAA reported. He said the trial defense attorneys agreed to it, and that the “agreement was held.”
Wirskye also pushed back on defense claims that Anthony had insufficient time to decide whether to testify and noted that prosecutors wanted him to take the stand, saying, “There’s nothing better in my business than a testifying defendant,” WFAA reported.
The hearing is ongoing, with the defense so far calling Derrick Jackson, the former Collin County public information officer, to discuss the courtroom protocols, and Mike Howard, one of Anthony’s trial attorneys.
A new judge is presiding over Thursday’s hearing, after Judge Sid Harle granted the defense’s motion to recuse Roach from any further matters in the Anthony case.
In his order issued Wednesday, Harle wrote that there were grounds for recusal “in that the evidence adduced at the hearing is such that the respondent judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”
Retired Kaufman County District Judge Michael Chitty has been assigned to oversee the case.
In the defense motion seeking to recuse the trial judge from the post-trial proceedings, Anthony’s attorneys questioned both Roach’s impartiality in the case and his courtroom restrictions.
The motion cited what it called “problematic comments” Roach made during an interview following the verdict, in which it said the judge “endorsed the jury’s guilty verdict” and defended his courtroom restrictions. It also pointed to a public letter Roach released following the trial, in which he stated that those who worked on the case “contributed to ensuring the process was conducted fairly.”
Anthony’s attorneys said Wednesday that they are “pleased” with Harle’s decision to recuse Roach and “look forward to presenting the merits of Karmelo’s motion for a new trial to a fair and independent judge.”
Ahead of the high-profile trial, Roach imposed a gag order and barred any electronics from the courtroom during the proceedings due to the attention the case had garnered.
“Due to the significant public and media interest in this case, the Court finds that specific procedures are necessary to ensure the Defendant’s right to a fair and impartial trial, the orderly administration of justice, the safety and security of all participants, and reasonable public access consistent with constitutional requirements,” Roach wrote in a May order.
On Wednesday, Chitty ordered that the trial procedures will remain in effect at this time for future proceedings in the case.
The New York State Capitol Building in Albany. (Demerzel21/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The FBI arrested a woman who they allege was plotting to attack the New York State Capitol building in Albany.
The FBI alleged in a criminal complaint Thursday that Jessica Bowie, 35, pledged allegiance to ISIS in online communications and began planning the attack in July.
The suspect converted to Islam about five years ago and in messages with unidentified users pledged support to ISIS, the criminal complaint said.
Bowie had allegedly discussed her plans with FBI informants and spent weeks doing surveillance of the Capitol, including taking pictures from various vantage points, including an “observation hall nearby,” the criminal complaint said.
She allegedly bought bomb materials from a hardware store on Aug. 5 and plotted with the informants for the next two weeks, according to the complaint.
The informants allegedly met with Bowie on Wednesday and provided her with an inert explosive device and an inert handgun along with instructions on how to detonate the explosive, the complaint said.
The FBI soon arrested her, the complaint said.
Upon being interviewed by FBI agents she allegedly said, “There’s no helping me, you guys know enough, there’s no helping me, I’m … going to prison for the rest of my life,” according to the complaint.
“Material support is up to 20 years in prison, I already Googled it before, I know I’m going to jail,” she allegedly said.
Attorney information for the suspect was not immediately available.
Former U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell departs the U.S. Capitol Building on March 5, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The FBI seized former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell’s electronic devices as part of an ongoing criminal probe, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Swalwell was served with a search warrant for his cellphone and other electronic devices while he was at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday night, according to sources, and agents served a search warrant at his Washington, D.C., home on Sunday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
President Donald Trump signs a piece of stone at the construction site of a helipad on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Aug. 19, 2026. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed his name on one of the slabs of a new multimillion-dollar granite helipad being built on the White House South Lawn as he showcased the ongoing construction project for the first time.
“It’s very exciting, very exciting, and I think it will be here for a long time,” Trump told reporters as he gave them a tour and touted the project, which will feature the U.S. seal.
But questions are mounting about who is paying for the project and if taxpayers might be on the hook.
Trump announced the helipad in July from the Oval Office, and said that Sikorsky, the manufacturer of the Marine One fleet that carries the president, would pay for the build.
“They are paying for the cost of it. It’s about $5 or $6 million. They’re paying the full cost,” Trump said at the time.
On Wednesday Trump reiterated that Sikorsky was footing much of the bill with additional “donations from numerous people, including me.”
A spokesperson for Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky’s parent company, told ABC News in a statement last month that its contribution was “made to the National Park Service.”
They added that their work with the administration was being “guided by rigorous ethics and compliance standards.”
Trump said crews were working nearly around the clock to bring the project in for a landing, starting as early as six in the morning and wrapping at midnight.
In addition to landing Marine One, the helipad would be used for when foreign dignitaries come for state visits and as a cocktail space ahead of events at the ballroom he’s constructing. He has in the past said it could also be used for news conferences.
The president said his signature, and that of those leading the project, will be on the back of the head of the eagle, which is part of the U.S. seal, and would not be visible once the project is complete.
ABC News has asked the White House Historical Association whether there are any past instances of a president inscribing their own name on a project on the grounds.
The president has said the landing zone is being built to allow newer Marine One helicopters that ferry the president to make trips to the White House.
“This is a helipad at the highest level. It can land any helicopter in the world, no matter how big, no matter how powerful, no matter how strong,” he said.
Lockheed Martin delivered a new fleet of Sikorsky helicopters to the Air Force in 2024, but the White House has had to keep using the older fleet for South Lawn departures and arrivals because they burn the grass. The newer helicopters have been used at other locations.
A construction worker told the president that the helipad could be completed by “the 21st,” though it was not clear if that was of August or September. Trump is slated to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sept. 24.
“Oh, so we might make it for President Xi? That would be great,” Trump said. He later added, “Not imperative, but it would be very nice to have it done.”
He also admitted that work was delayed for a week after he asked for the helipad to be raised to account for a slope in the lawn.
“Sorry to take an extra week and a half, but lifting it up was one of the best things we’ve ever done, right? Trump said to the construction workers standing around him.
People inspect the aftermath of a Russian missile strike on Aug. 20, 2026, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Apartment blocks and warehouses were hit across the city overnight following a large barrage of missiles, with a children’s hospital and school also damaged. (Diego Fedele/Getty Images)
LONDON — A “massive” Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv on Wednesday night killed at least 15 people and injured more than 40 others, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post to social media on Thursday.
“Throughout the night, our emergency services have been working at the sites of Russian strikes,” Zelenskyy wrote. “The attack was massive — the Russians prepared for a long time and combined different types of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones to inflict as much damage as possible on civilian infrastructure.”
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched an unspecified number of ballistic missiles into the country overnight as well as 46 cruise or air-to-ground missiles of various types. Russia also launched 168 drones, the air force said.
“The main direction of the attack was the Kyiv region,” the air force wrote in a post to Telegram. It added that 41 cruise missiles of various types and 145 drones were shot down or otherwise suppressed, with munitions reported impacting across 28 locations.
The air force did not say whether any ballistic missiles were shot down. Earlier this month, the air force stopped publishing the number of ballistic missiles fired or intercepted in Russia’s nightly barrages.
Around the capital, Zelenskyy said that residential buildings, a children’s hospital and school were among the sites damaged. The president also reported overnight Russian attacks in the southern Odesa and northern Chernihiv regions.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in posts to Telegram that damage was reported in the Sviatoshynskyi, Solomianskyi and Darnitskyi areas of the city, including fires at warehouses and residential buildings.
Recent months have seen an expansion of Russian missile attacks all across Ukraine, as officials in Kyiv warn that Ukrainian stocks of anti-missile interceptor munitions are dangerously low and, in some cases, exhausted.
Ukraine is working on its own ballistic missile interceptor program — the FREYJA — but officials in Kyiv have said they do not expect the weapon to be operational until 2027.
Zelenskyy on Thursday again appealed to foreign partners to route more ammunition to Kyiv. “Unfortunately, while Moscow is investing in ballistics and escalation, there isn’t always the necessary response from the world to such attacks,” he wrote.
“As long as Ukraine lacks sufficient anti-ballistic defenses, Russia will not seriously consider peace. We are doing everything we can to ensure protection, and work on the FREYJA program continues every day. However, interceptors for ‘Patriot’ systems are not yet available, and they are needed every day,” Zelenskyy wrote.
In a later post, the Ukrainian leader said that the country’s defense against ballistic missiles is “entirely dependent on the supply of missiles for ‘Patriot’ systems to Ukraine, and therefore, it depends on our partners.”
“We cannot simply stand by idly and watch as the Russians destroy lives with ballistic missiles. Ukrainian soldiers can operate effectively when the courage and professionalism of our people are supported by the appropriate assistance from our partners,” Zelenskyy added.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha reported a “horrible and sleepless night in Kyiv,” in a post to X. “This was one of the most brutal Russian attacks to date, with ballistic missiles raining down on our capital one after another,” he wrote.
Russia’s Defense Ministry described the overnight attack as having targeted “military industrial enterprises, a transport and logistics hub and warehouses in Kyiv and the Kyiv region.”
The Defense Ministry also said that it shot down at least 726 Ukrainian drones over 18 Russian regions plus Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. At least 28 drones were shot down over the Moscow region, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said on Telegram.
Austin Metcalf in a family provided photo. (Metcalf Family)
(FRISCO, Texas) — A Texas judge is set to hear arguments Thursday on whether Karmelo Anthony should get a new trial, two months after a jury convicted and sentenced him to 35 years in prison for fatally stabbing a fellow student at a high school track meet.
The hearing comes a day after the Collin County judge who presided over the murder trial was removed from further proceedings in the case.
Prosecutors called the deadly stabbing “unjustified” and “plain and simple murder,” while the defense argued that Anthony acted in self-defense when he stabbed 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a track meet in Frisco in April 2025.
After hearing four days of testimony, a Collin County jury found Anthony, 19, guilty of murder following three hours of deliberation on June 9. The same jury sentenced him to 35 years in prison after several more hours of deliberation.
Anthony’s attorneys claimed in a motion seeking a new trial that the teen was “coerced” into waiving his right to testify, stemming from a purported dispute between defense attorneys and prosecutors about whether his testimony would be covered by an agreement limiting some character evidence in the trial. Defense attorneys alleged this denied him a “complete defense.”
The defense also alleged that Collin County Judge John Roach improperly instructed the jury and that his courtroom restrictions, which limited public access to the proceedings, denied Anthony a fair trial.
In a statement to ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA ahead of this week’s hearings, Collin County First Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye said Anthony’s new attorneys “filed a motion containing several inaccurate characterizations of the trial proceedings.”
“I and the entire prosecution team conducted this trial ethically and in full compliance with the Court’s ruling and any agreements with defense counsel,” Wirskye added.
A new judge will preside over Thursday’s hearing, after Judge Sid Harle granted the defense’s motion to recuse Roach from any further matters in the Anthony case.
In his order issued Wednesday, Harle wrote that there were grounds for recusal “in that the evidence adduced at the hearing is such that the respondent judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”
Retired Kaufman County District Judge Michael Chitty has been assigned to oversee the case.
In the defense motion seeking to recuse the trial judge from the post-trial proceedings, Anthony’s attorneys questioned both Roach’s impartiality in the case and his courtroom restrictions.
The motion cited what it called “problematic comments” Roach made during an interview following the verdict, in which it said the judge “endorsed the jury’s guilty verdict” and defended his courtroom restrictions. It also pointed to a public letter Roach released following the trial, in which he stated that those who worked on the case “contributed to ensuring the process was conducted fairly.”
Anthony’s attorneys said Wednesday that they are “pleased” with Harle’s decision to recuse Roach and “look forward to presenting the merits of Karmelo’s motion for a new trial to a fair and independent judge.”
Ahead of the high-profile trial, Roach imposed a gag order and barred any electronics from the courtroom during the proceedings due to the attention the case had garnered.
“Due to the significant public and media interest in this case, the Court finds that specific procedures are necessary to ensure the Defendant’s right to a fair and impartial trial, the orderly administration of justice, the safety and security of all participants, and reasonable public access consistent with constitutional requirements,” Roach wrote in a May order.
On Wednesday, Chitty ordered that the trial procedures will remain in effect at this time for future proceedings in the case.
Kelly Ocampo believed her sister had been granted bond to be released from ICE detention. (Kelly Ocampo)
(DILLEY, Texas.) — Last month, Kelly Ocampo believed she received good news: Her 21-year-old pregnant sister had finally been granted bond and was going to be released from the family immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas.
The letter she received from a lawyer to whom she had paid more than $3,000 was written on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement letterhead and stated that the ICE bond for Maria Alejandra Gomez-Quiroz was approved.
“This notice confirms that the immigration bond ordered by the Immigration Court has been successfully paid through an official payment method authorized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS),” the letter stated.
When Ocampo received the letter, her sister had been in detention for a few weeks. But now, a month after she believed the bond was approved, her sister — who is five months pregnant — is still in federal immigration custody.
“It was a scam,” Ocampo told ABC News.
Ocampo believes she was scammed by an individual posing as an immigration attorney, and said her sister has now been detained for over 40 days. Ocampo and her family spent all their savings on the alleged lawyer to try to get her sister released, she said.
ABC News reached out to the person Ocampo says claimed to be a lawyer, but did not receive a response.
Ocampo told ABC News that her sister and partner were fleeing violent guerrillas in Colombia and were planning on applying for asylum in the U.S.
Gomez-Quiroz was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol at the border in June.
She is one of at least 500 people detained at Dilley and one of four pregnant women being held there as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown, according to lawmakers.
Her detention comes as a federal district judge in California has ordered the appointment of a special master and independent monitor to examine “time in custody” at the Dilley facility to ensure that the government is complying with guidelines established in previous legal settlements.
Immigration lawyers have argued that the administration is detaining people longer than allowed by previous court settlements.
Immigrant advocacy groups have also said that arrests and detentions of pregnant women violate an ICE directive stating that the agency should not “detain, arrest, or continue to detain individuals known to be pregnant, postpartum, or nursing” except under exceptional circumstances.
ABC News previously reported on a different 21-year-old pregnant woman who has been detained at Dilly for more than 50 days with her 2-year-old son.
Immigrant advocates, medical professionals and lawmakers have previously raised concerns about conditions at the South Texas facility.
The order from the California judge also calls for the special master and independent monitor to monitor compliance with “adequate access to medical care” at Dilley.
DHS officials have previously disputed any allegations of substandard medical care at the detention facility.
A spokesperson for DHS said Gomez-Quiroz was convicted of illegal entry on July 6 and stated that she remains in ICE custody pending the outcome of her removal proceedings.
In response to concerns from Gomez-Quiroz’s family that she has been experiencing lower abdominal pain, a DHS spokesperson said, “It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment a person enters ICE custody.”
“She’s been very depressed,” Ocampo told ABC News. “My mom is desperate … this is a very hard situation.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney greets U.S. President Donald Trump at the official welcome ceremony during the G7 Leaders’ Summit on June 16, 2025 in Kananaskis, Alberta. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump said he is pausing for three days the new 50% tariffs on Canadian goods that were set to go into effect early Wednesday, citing a deal between the U.S. and Canada.
“I have paused the 50% Tariffs against Canada, that were scheduled to kick in tomorrow morning for a three day period, based on the fact that Canada and the U.S.A., subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL,” Trump said in a social media post on Tuesday night.
The new tariffs, targeting dozens of products from hockey sticks to wine, were set to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
Trump confirmed Wednesday that he had a “very good conversation” with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday night, repeating that he’d struck a deal to avert a 50% American tariff on a hodgepodge of Canadian goods for now.
“Yeah, we had a very good conversation with the Prime Minister last night, and we’ve come to a deal with Canada. As you know, the 50% tariffs across the board were going on against Canada today,” Trump said Wednesday.
The president claimed that as part of the Canadian deal, Canadian tariffs on American agricultural goods would be “non-existent.”
“The tariffs will be non-existent for our farmers. Our farmers were paying tremendous tariffs into Canada. And those tariffs are going to be totally eviscerated down to zero,” Trump noted.
Canada’s latest statement on the matter reflects that while “substantial progress” has been made, important work remains.
“As this work is ongoing, the United States has agreed to postpone the implementation of its 50% tariff on a range of Canadian goods under Section 338 of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930 until end of day, August 21,” Carney said in a statement.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s official account on X responded to Trump’s announcement Tuesday, providing a bit of insight into what a final deal might entail. “The deal will include comprehensive market access for all American goods, economic security commitments, digital trade alignment, and many important provisions that will continue to protect our market and American workers, along with our Canadian partners,” the USTR posted.
Trump had suggested the deal might include a renewed effort to build the Keystone Pipeline, despite the project being canceled in 2021 after years of criticism about the project’s environmental impact.
“Keystone XL Pipeline, long ago killed by Sleepy Joe Biden, may be awoken from the grave!” Trump added in the post.
Due to exemptions on key goods, the tariffs were expected to hit only a fraction of U.S. imports from Canada.
Still, the list of affected goods features an array of food items such as dairy products, honey, whey protein and molasses; as well as alcoholic beverages like whiskey and vodka.
It all comes weeks after Trump imposed sweeping new tariffs on 60 trade partners, including the European Union. Those levies ramped up an effort to reconstruct far-reaching duties struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this year.
Unlike previous tariffs, the new Canada tariffs would have applied to products compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, a free trade agreement. The levies included significant exemptions, however, leaving out some top Canadian imports such as oil, gas and potash.
Trump first announced the tariffs in a series of executive orders last month, saying the move had been made in retaliation for Canadian policies he considers discriminatory against U.S. exports.
“President Trump is offsetting the burden and disadvantage on U.S. commerce from Canada’s discriminatory treatment of U.S. commerce and is leveling the playing field for crucial American exports–cars, alcohol, and dairy,” the White House said at the time.
In a statement last month, Carney criticized a flurry of U.S. tariffs put forward since last year, saying Canada has “merely matched those measures.”
“This trade dispute has raised costs for families, particularly in the U.S. Canada stands ready to engage intensively to address outstanding issues with the U.S. to the mutual benefit of our citizens,” Carney said.
Trump has carried out on-again, off-again trade negotiations with Canada since he took office, aiming to resolve a dispute that began with tariffs announced by Trump early in his second term.
Trump sought to impose the tariffs under a legal authority enshrined in section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which allows the president to enact levies up to 50% for countries found to have discriminated against the U.S. relative to their treatment of other nations.
The provision has never been invoked before, meaning the move lacks judicial precedent, Abigail Watt, an economist at UBS, said in a memo shared with ABC News.
