Investors also digest recent disappointing employment data.
U.S. stocks held steady after the opening bell as Wall Street waited for President Donald Trump to make an announcement later in the day.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index, and the broader S&P 500 Index were little changed in the middle of the trading week.
Investors sought relief when Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that the White House could reach a compromise with Canada and Mexico to cushion the tariff-driven economic blows.
In a March 4 interview with Fox Business, Lutnick revealed that he is constantly on the phone with Canadian and Mexican officials and noted that the president could meet them “in the middle some way” on Wednesday.
“And the president is listening because, you know, he’s very, very fair and very reasonable. So I think he’s going to work something out with them,” Lutnick said.
He later clarified to Bloomberg that some product categories, such as automobiles, could be exempted from the 25 percent tariffs. Lutnick reiterated that these efforts are part of broader efforts to curtail the flow of fentanyl entering the United States.