04:47 PM EST, 03/06/2025 (MT Newswires) -- (Adds commentary in second paragraph and fifth paragraphs)

The Toronto Stock Exchange fell to the lowest in nearly two months on Thursday as confusion over the U.S. trade war heightened after U.S. President Trump said North America trade agreement compliant goods from both Canada and Mexico will be exempt from 25% tariffs for a month.

Of note, roughly 62% cent of imports from Canada would likely still face the new tariffs because they're not compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement (CUSMA), The Associated Press reported, citing a White House official who insisted on anonymity to preview the orders on a call with reporters.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 286.78 points to 24,584.04, the lowest since Jan.13. Among sectors, Information Technology and Health Care were the biggest decliners, slipping 3.26% and 2.31% respectively. The biggest gainers were Battery Metals, 6.71%, and Telecoms, 1.33%.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier today that such a move would be a "promising sign". But he also noted the exemptions, which will expire on April 2, don't remove the threat of the tariffs completely and, therefore, Canada's own response with retaliatory tariffs remains in place.

Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc has since said Canada will halt the second wave of tariffs on U.S. goods until April 2. "The United States has agreed to suspend tariffs on CUSMA-compliant exports from Canada until April 2nd," LeBlanc said in a post on the X social-media site shortly after Trump announced the tariff delay. "As a result, Canada will not proceed with the second wave of tariffs on $125B of U.S. products until April 2nd, while we continue to work for the removal of all tariffs."

The tariffs were only imposed on Tuesday as part of a trade policy move that has whipsawed financial markets, and damaged relations between neighbors on the continent. U.S. markets were also sharply lower, led by the Nasdaq Exchange, which fell 2.6%.

Maybe, according to veteran market watcher David Rosenberg, somebody showed Trump the results of yesterday's Beige Book from the Federal Reserve, which has been coming out since 1970 and provides color and commentary from business executives around the country and spanning all industries.

Amazingly, Rosenberg said, the number of times the word "tariff" was cited in the most recent edition, which was released yesterday, was 49, up from 23 in January, 11 in December, and 0 in October. The tariff war had barely started, and the number of these citations already came close to matching the peak in Trump's first term, in October 2018, Rosenberg noted. As for "uncertainty," Rosenberg noted that was referenced 45 times in this latest Beige Book -- about double the number of times before the election and now higher than at any time during the trade war in Trump's first term and above the peak during the pandemic and lockdowns five years ago.

Of commodities today, West Texas Intermediate crude oil edged up from a six-month low despite rising supply, higher U.S inventories and the threat of weakening demand amid trade wars launched by the United States. WTI crude oil for April delivery closed up $0.05 to settle at US$66.36 per barrel, while May Brent crude was last seen up $0.12 to US$69.42.

Gold prices were steady mid-afternoon on Thursday after three days of gains even as the U.S. dollar continued to falter following the launch of a trade war against Washington's largest trading partners. Gold for April delivery was last seen up $0.70 to US$2,926.70 per ounce.