President Donald Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, billionaire financial-services executive Howard Lutnick, made an effort Wednesday to ease concerns about potentially inflationary 25% tariffs against Canada and Mexico that could hit Saturday.

Lutnick said Trump's Saturday deadline for imposing 25 per cent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico was meant to pressure the two countries to stop the flow of fentanyl into the US

Oil prices were little changed in early trading on Thursday, as markets watched for tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump on Mexico and Canada, the two largest suppliers of crude oil to United States.