Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on a range of American goods after trade talks with Washington broke down and the United States pressed ahead with 50% duties on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian exports, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Saturday.
The new U.S. tariffs took effect just after midnight, hitting products including hockey sticks, building materials, spirits and certain apparel. They had originally been set to start Wednesday, but President Donald Trump granted a three-day extension to allow negotiations to continue before the talks ultimately collapsed late Friday.
Carney said Washington had introduced unfair, last-minute changes to terms both sides appeared close to agreeing on, adding that the shift called into question the reliability of any deal reached with the U.S. He said Canada’s countermeasures would match the American tariffs dollar for dollar and would take effect Sept. 8, targeting sectors including steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer offered a different account, saying Canada had backed away from an agreement the two sides had settled on earlier in the week. He said Washington had offered Canada more favorable terms than any other trading partner, including tariff reductions on steel, aluminum, lumber and autos, in exchange for Canada easing provincial restrictions on U.S. alcohol sales, and said no further talks were currently planned.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford backed a forceful response, calling for Canada to match the U.S. measures “tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar” and urging national unity heading into the dispute.
The breakdown marks a sharp reversal from earlier in the week, when Trump said negotiators had “pretty much” reached a deal. Canada and the U.S. exchanged roughly $880 billion in goods and services last year, with the U.S. absorbing about 62% of Canada’s total exports, making the two countries among each other’s largest trading partners.
