Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced retaliatory tariffs on the United States after Washington imposed a 50 percent levy on $20bn worth of Canadian goods.
Carney, speaking in Ottawa on Saturday, said the new Canadian tariffs would target US steel, dairy and electronics industries, among others, and take effect on September 8.
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“Canada will match Washington’s new tariffs dollar for dollar in order to protect Canadian workers, farmers, families, and businesses,” Carney told reporters.
The announcement came after days of intense negotiations broke down late on Friday, worsening a delicate relationship between the longtime trade partners and allies.
US President Donald Trump’s new tariffs hit sectors including wine, furniture, dairy products, cement, clothing, fishing rods and hockey equipment, and cover some $20bn worth of goods, or 5.5 percent of Canadian exports to the US.
Trump responded to Carney’s announcement, saying on Truth Social, “Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!” He claimed Canada has also charged US farmers “massive amounts” of tariffs for years, and added, “No more!!!”
Carney is one of the few global leaders to retaliate against US tariffs and has pledged to forge new trade and military alliances, despite Canada’s dependence on the US for nearly 70 percent of its exports.
In Ottawa on Saturday, Carney said the talks with the US broke down after Trump set conditions that were ultimately unacceptable, even though earlier talks had been positive.
“In recent days, the United States proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair and undermined the net benefits for Canada, and called into question the reliability of any deal,” Carney said, adding these demands included curtailing Canada’s ability to forge new trade deals.
“We cannot accept what they’ve offered, and we will not give what they’ve asked.”
He added that US negotiators also made unacceptable “threats” to the French language and “Quebec culture”, referring to the French-speaking province in eastern Canada.
Canada to target US steel and dairy industries
He said Canada will impose tariffs on US steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics, along with some products the US previously targeted in Canada. The government will release details on its response in the coming days, he said.
He added that Canada would announce support measures next week for industries hit by the new US duties, adding these measures could last years.
The new US tariffs are expected to have a serious impact on Canada’s economy.
“Costs are going to go up, prices are going to go up, unemployment is going to go up as well,” said Al Jazeera’s David Mercer, reporting from the Canadian city of Calgary. “And it’s been warned that business owners – small [and] medium-sized businesses – some of those will have to declare bankruptcy.”
At the same time, Mercer said, Carney is selling the trade war as an opportunity for Canada to strengthen its trade relations with other countries.
“He’s been around the world, he’s been talking to countries in Asia, in Europe, shoring up new trade relationships, wanting to diversify Canada’s economy and Canada’s trade relationships with other countries around the world just to get away from that dependency that Canada has traditionally had on the United States,” he said.
Public opinion surveys in Canada show most Canadians back a “tougher approach” to the US in the trade talks. A poll by Leger last week said 56 percent of Canadians favoured a hard line and making no more concessions.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, one of the most vocal opponents of US tariffs, supported Carney’s decision to retaliate.
“I’m glad he didn’t sign that deal because it was a bad deal. It was a bad deal for Ontario. It was a bad deal for the auto sector, the steel sector, and manufacturing sector,” Ford told reporters on Saturday.
‘Only realistic next step’
In Port Colborne, Ontario, resident Stuart Edwards said the trade war was going to “hurt everybody” and “it’s just sad”.
“We have a bully in Washington, and he’s just hitting us all with the big stick all the time,” he said. “And we’re not going to put up with it; Canada isn’t. We’ll fight back.”
But Pamela Coulis, from Fort Erie in Canada, was worried about rising prices.
“I think probably the gas will go up even more, and all products, from food to, I don’t know, wood, everything else,” she said.
Diamond Isinger, who served as a special adviser to former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said both countries will suffer from the trade war.
“It’s going to cause pain and challenge for Canadians and Americans alike – in terms of the actions that, unfortunately, the US has taken as well as Canada’s retaliation. But ultimately this was the way forward; this was the only realistic next step,” she said.
“Because the US administration responds best, of all the responses that they could have, to all the actions that a government like Canada could take, to strength,” Isinger added.
“So, we could not simply accept 50 percent tariffs going forward. We had to move forward with our own retaliatory package.”
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Fox News on Saturday that no new talks are planned with Canada.
“We’re moving forward with measures that respond to Canadian retaliation,” Greer said. “They’ve always had the best deal, and they still would have an even better deal, but they didn’t want that.”
Meanwhile, the escalating trade war has been met with anger by Democratic lawmakers and governors from border states, including Minnesota, New York and Washington, who blamed Trump for triggering chaos that would raise costs for US businesses and families.
“Needlessly picking fights with our allies and raising prices here at home. That’s Trump’s economic policy in a nutshell,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul posted on X.
The Business Roundtable, a group of 200 chief executives of leading US corporations, also warned the new tariffs “risk raising costs for American businesses and families”, and urged both governments to resume negotiations.