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See the full story · 29 sourcesTrade war escalates after negotiations break down with Trump’s aggressive tariff agenda
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Canada is rolling out a slate of retaliatory trade moves against the U.S. in response to Donald Trump’s latest tariffs after negotiations between the neighboring nations broke down in an escalating trade war.
“Canada must respond,” Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Tuesday.
Canada, which imports roughly $272 billion in U.S. goods every year, will double its existing counter-tariffs on American steel and aluminum products to 50 percent, while new tariffs of 15, 25 and 50 percent will be applied to more than $20 billion worth of about 700 U.S. goods, including clothing, furniture, video game consoles and other electronics, among other goods.
The measures are “proportionate, targeted and strategic,” designed to “match dollar for dollar, rate for rate” against Trump’s tariff agenda, Champagne said. The new levies are effective September 8.
Canada’s new levies are “designed primarily to provide protection for Canadian industry impacted by American tariffs” and to “level the playing field” in the face of Trump’s trade war, he said. Officials have stressed that the retaliatory measures are intended to protect workers and industry, not collect revenue; Canada will cushion the economic blow from the latest battle in the trade war with a $5.4 billion package to boost support for impacted workers and businesses.
The Trump administration’s 50 percent tariffs on many Canadian products went into effect Saturday after the president laid out last-minute “unfair” and “uneconomic” terms last week, according to Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Trump, meanwhile, has told Canadian leaders to “fall in line” or face consequences “far WORSE” than already-imposed tariffs, including threatening new 50 percent tariffs on Canadian vehicles, auto parts and steel.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford unleashed his own vitriol , telling Trump to “kiss my as**.”
“We’re going to go at him full steam,” he said Monday.
Trump responded in a social media post by attacking Ford personally , calling him “the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford.”
“If you think an insult from him hurts me? Well, bring it on, buddy, I’m ready,” Ford replied.
On Tuesday morning, hours before Canadian officials unveiled new tariffs, Trump threatened to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”
“We’ll always call it Lake Ontario. Period. We’re proud of our Great Lakes,” Minister of Industry of Canada Mélanie Joly said during Tuesday’s press conference.
“While all these shenanigans are happening, we’ll just be smart, we’ll be strategic, and we’ll fight back,” she said.
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