Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is ready to deliver a "purposeful, forceful but reasonable, immediate" response if U.S. President Donald Trump imposes tariffs on Canadian imports.

"We're ready with a response - a purposeful, forceful but reasonable, immediate response. It's not what we want, but if he moves forward, we will also act," he said in televised remarks, adding that all options were being considered.

Canada's government on Friday announced that it would defer the implementation of the controversial changes in the capital gains tax to January 1 next year. People who fell under the ambit of the proposed changes of the tax regime were concerned whether they would have to continue paying the modified capital gains tax after the measure failed to pass through parliament.

Canada’s government is reversing course on a signature tax measure, deferring the implementation of an increase to capital-gains tax until after an election and a potential hit to the economy from threatened U.

The federal government is likely to reverse course on changes to the capital gains tax that were announced in the last federal budget, CBC News has learned.