New 50 per cent U.S. tariffs on $28 billion of Canadian goods took effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, minutes after Prime Minister Mark Carney called off trade talks with Washington and ordered his negotiators home to Ottawa.
Canada will answer with equal measures of its own, Carney said. Which goods will be hit has not been announced.
The U.S. list runs from hockey sticks and honey to essential oils and dairy products. Carney’s statement, issued just before the deadline, said progress in recent weeks had not gone far enough. “Last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal,” he said. He added that the government would bring in measures to support workers and businesses in the coming days.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and chief negotiator Janice Charette had spent nearly two weeks in Washington, including several hours of talks with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Friday. “They have worked hard, in good faith,” Carney said.
Washington blames Ottawa
Greer told it differently. He said the two sides had “declined” to finalize a tentative agreement and put the fault on Canada, citing “new demands and walk-backs of other commitments” that “upended the careful balance reached in the past days.” He also pointed to Canadian restrictions that remain on some American goods and services. The U.S. offer, he said, included major tariff cuts on steel, aluminum, autos and lumber, a security partnership and the start of formal talks on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. He called the collapse a “missed opportunity.”
Earlier on Friday, Trump had said a deal was “moving along.” LeBlanc told reporters there was “more work to do.”
Premiers and business react
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, after days of silence, said Carney had his “full support.” British Columbia Premier David Eby wrote that “our politeness should never be mistaken for weakness.” Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney called counter-tariffs “exactly the right thing to do at this time.”
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith broke from them. She said she was “deeply disappointed,” that “no one benefits from a trade war,” and that she would press Ottawa to restart negotiations as soon as possible.
Candace Laing, who heads the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and sits on the prime minister’s advisory committee on Canada-U.S. economic relations, called the tariff a “body blow.” For a small exporter on tight margins, she said, the question becomes “your orders, your payroll and your employees and asking what you can still afford.”
How it got here
Trump first threatened the tariffs in July and set an Aug. 19 deadline, then paused them shortly before it while the sides worked on details. Among the irritants the U.S. cited were access to Canada’s dairy market and the American alcohol still off store shelves in most provinces. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said this week that Carney had effectively told the premiers there would be no deal without a pledge to restock U.S. liquor.
Canada and the U.S. have not started formal CUSMA negotiations. Mexico and the U.S. have.
Sources
- Canada suspends U.S. trade talks, vows dollar-for-dollar tariff retaliation
- Canada Halts US Trade Talks, Vows Dollar-for-Dollar Tariff Retaliation
