Rewriting Transcript for Clarity

Two days after imposing sweeping tariffs on Canada and Mexico, President Trump on Thursday abruptly suspended many of those levies, sowing confusion with investors and businesses that depend on trade with the countries.
The president said he would allow products that are traded under the rules of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the trade pact he signed in his first term, to avoid the stiff 25 percent tariffs he imposed just days ago on two of America’s largest trading partners.
The suspension effectively abandons many of the tariffs that Mr. Trump had placed on Canadian and Mexican products — levies he said were necessary to stem the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States.
His decision came a day after he said he would grant a 30-day reprieve to automakers, who had complained to the president that the levies would cause severe damage to U.S. carmakers. Mr. Trump implied that any relief would be short-lived, saying that other tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products are coming in April.
Mr. Trump’s chaotic, stop-and-start approach has sent stock markets tumbling and generated anxiety among industries that depend on trade with Canada and Mexico, which account for more than a quarter of U.S. imports and nearly a third of U.S. exports. After Mr. Trump imposed his tariffs, Canada retaliated with levies on $20.5 billion worth of American goods, including agricultural products, and Mexico was threatening to impose its own import taxes on U.S. goods on Sunday if Mr. Trump did not relent.
Still, the decision to suspend the tariffs did little to calm financial markets, which have been jittery since Mr. Trump ratcheted up his trade war earlier this week. In addition to hitting Canada and Mexico, Mr. Trump placed a second 10 percent tariff on all Chinese imports, prompting another round of retaliation from Beijing on American products. The president has not suspended any of his levies on China.
The S&P 500 fell 1.8 percent on Thursday, taking the slide for the index this week to 3.6 percent and putting it on course for its worst week since a banking crisis two years ago that felled some of the country’s small lenders.
Speaking from the White House on Thursday, Mr. Trump said his decision would protect American carmakers and farmers. He insisted that there were “no delays at all” and his order had “nothing to do with the market.”
“I’m not even looking at the market, because long term, the United States will be very strong with what’s happening here,” he said. “Now these are countries and companies, foreign companies, that have been ripping us off, and no president did anything about it, until I came along.”