OTTAWA — Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods beginning Sept. 8, responding to President Donald Trump's 50 percent tariffs on approximately $20 billion worth of Canadian products.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the "dollar-for-dollar" measures following the breakdown of last-ditch trade negotiations. The Canadian tariffs will target U.S. steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and pa and electronics.
Trump's tariffs, effective Aug. 22, cover roughly 5 percent of Canada's annual shipments to the United States and include products such as hockey sticks and tongue depressors.
Carney said Ottawa had offered to remove remaining retaliatory tariffs on steel, aluminum, and autos if the United States substantially reduced its own. Canada also offered to encourage provinces to restore U.S. alcohol sales. But Carney said Washington's final demands "went too far." The U.S. terms would have reduced tariff relief for Canadian-made vehicles, restricted Canada's ability to forge trade deals with other nations, and weakened protections for Canadian language, culture, and sovereignty, he said.
Jamieson Greer, President Trump's top trade negotiator, countered that the administration offered to cut tariffs on steel, autos, and lumber. "They always had the best deal, and they still would have an even better deal, but they didn't want that," Greer said on Fox Friends Weekend. He added the U.S. was "moving forward with measures that respond to Canadian retaliation" and cited "a year of retaliation by its longtime ally" before saying the U.S. had "said enough."
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who leads Canada's most populous province, publicly backed Carney's response, pledging "full support" for retaliation "tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar."
The breakdown in negotiations raises questions about the future of the trilateral trade agreement encompassing the United States, Canada, and Mexico, a pact critical for industries across all three countries. The rapid deterioration from potential compromise to complete breakdown suggests deep disagreements beyond specific tariff levels.
