The United States imposed 50% tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian imports early Saturday, triggering immediate retaliation from Ottawa after eleventh-hour negotiations between the two historic allies broke down.
The import taxes ordered by President Donald Trump affect roughly 5% of Canada’s annual exports to the U.S., covering a wide array of goods ranging from hockey sticks to tongue depressors. The move threatens the stability of the trilateral North American trade pact among the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Ottawa will counter the move immediately.
“Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses,” Carney said in a statement, adding that his government will unveil additional support packages for affected domestic industries and workers in the coming days.
According to a senior Trump administration official, the negotiations collapsed after Canada pushed for exemptions and concessions on steel, aluminum, autos, and lumber tariffs that the U.S. refused to grant.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer read a statement to reporters shortly before midnight addressing the impasse.
“Tonight, Canada declined to finalize the trade deal under the terms agreed earlier this week. Despite the U.S. offer to Canada to receive the best treatment of any major exporter to our market, new demands and walk-backs of other commitments by Canada have upended the careful balance reached in the past days,” Greer said. He characterized the U.S. proposal as a “forward-looking” offer that included “a historic economic and national security partnership.”
Carney placed the responsibility for the failed talks on Washington, stating that “last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.”
Carney has suspended further negotiations and recalled the Canadian delegation back to Ottawa.
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