WASHINGTON (Kashmir English): Political and economic tensions between the United States and its 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosts Mexico and Canada will make the event more exciting, said US President Donald Trump after signing an executive order to create a task force for the tournament.
He was speaking in the Oval Office alongside FIFA president Gianni Infantino. He said the task force, which he will chair, would co-ordinate with federal agencies in planning, organising and executing the 48-team international football tournament.
The Trump administration, earlier this week, imposed across-the-board 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada before announcing on Thursday a one-month reprieve for both nations on goods compliant under a North American trade pact.
When asked about the global event in light of the ongoing trade tensions between the three countries, Trump Friday said, “I think it’s going to make it more exciting. Tension is a good thing, it makes it much more exciting.”
Both countries are the two largest US trading partners. The exemptions for both expire on April 2, when Trump has threatened to impose a global regime of reciprocal tariffs on all US trading partners.
World Cup 2026
The World Cup tournament will be played from June 11 to July 19, 2026. The expanded tournament will feature 104 matches instead of the previous 64 games, including an additional knockout round.
Trump hopes that the task force would assist in planning the “largest sporting event in history.”
“We’re going to be establishing a task force, a very important task force — White House — and that’s on the FIFA World Cup of 2026 which, as you know, is a big event,” Trump said.
Infantino meanwhile said the 2026 FIFA World Cup — and this year’s FIFA Club World Cup in the US — would create 200,000 jobs and have an economic impact of $40 billion.
“And more than that, we will give joy and happiness to the entire world, and this is priceless, definitely,” Infantino added.
