EST date timezone doesn't add up hours properly swift 5 - swift

Question

I am trying to add up to 2 hours to the current time. When it's "Asia/Kolkata" the following function works, but if it's "America/Toronto" it reduces the time by 2 hours instead of adding. Please see the below code and shade some light where I am wrong. TIA
let now = Date().localDate() // 2021-03-16 06:24:44 +0000 //extension of localDate
let modifiedDate = Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .hour, value: 2, to: now)!
let hour = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.hour], from: modifiedDate, to: now).hour //-2
let formatter = DateFormatter()
let timezone = TimeZone.current.identifier
formatter.timeZone = TimeZone(abbreviation: "America/Toronto")
formatter.locale = Calendar.current.locale
formatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss ZZZ"
self.dateString = formatter.string(from: modifiedDate)
print("Date: ", self.dateString) //2021-03-16 04:24:44 -0400
extension Date {
func localDate() -> Date {
let nowUTC = Date()
let timeZoneOffset = Double(TimeZone.current.secondsFromGMT(for: nowUTC))
guard let localDate = Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .second, value: Int(timeZoneOffset), to: nowUTC) else {return Date()}
return localDate
}
}

Answer 1

Your extension is totally wrong. There is no "nowUTC". Now is anywhere in the world. A date has no timezone it is just a point in time. You should never add/subtract the seconds from GMT to your Date() / now object
To make it easier to explain what is wrong there all you need is to use Date method description with locale and use current. Note also that adding seconds to a date will never fail so it is safe to safely force unwrap the result. The use of a guard there is pointless and don't return Date() when failing. You should change the return type to an optional Date and return nil but it is not necessary in this case:
Again the following extension is what you should never do
extension Date {
func localDate() -> Date {
let nowUTC = Date()
let timeZoneOffset = Double(TimeZone.current.secondsFromGMT(for: nowUTC))
return Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .second, value: Int(timeZoneOffset), to: nowUTC)!
}
}
Now it is 13:06 in Rio de Janeiro Brazil and your date returned by the localDate method is "Tuesday, March 16, 2021 at 10:06:13 AM Brasilia Standard Time"
Date().localDate().description(with: .current) // Tuesday, March 16, 2021 at 10:06:13 AM Brasilia Standard Time"
If you need "local date" all you need is to use Date(). If you would like to display the local date you need to use DateFormatter. When you print the date object it will always show the UTC time (+0000). If you want to print the local date just print the description with the current locale.
let now = Date()
now.description(with: .current) // "Tuesday, March 16, 2021 at 1:06:13 PM Brasilia Standard Time"