Canada will enact retaliatory tariffs on American products Sept. 8 after the Trump administration’s new slate of economic actions against its northern neighbor went into effect midnight Saturday.
Details on Canada’s retaliatory tariffs will be revealed in the coming days, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said at a news conference hours after the U.S. implemented 50% tariffs on some Canadian goods.
“You’re at war when you’re attacked,” Carney said. “We were attacked.”
Last-minute negotiations on a trade deal between the two countries broke down late Friday night, triggering the tariffs on about $28 billion in Canadian imports. The two sides blamed each other for the failed talks.
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Carney said in an overnight statement that he suspended negotiations after the United States introduced last-second proposals that were “unfair, uneconomic and called into question the reliability of the deal.”
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer countered that Canada “upended the careful balance reached in the past days” and was “continuing to maintain its prolonged retaliation against the United States.”
President Donald Trump signed an executive order to place 50% tariffs on Canadian goods in July, arguing that they were defensive measures for Canada’s “discriminatory actions” on American commerce. The measures add further anxiety to automotive companies that manufacture parts across North America and assemble vehicles in the U.S., as well as the steel and aluminum industries that source metals in Canada.
The auto industry was already dealing with 25% tariffs prior to Saturday’s new measures.
Lucas Malinowski, president and CEO of Global Automakers of Canada, told CTV News on Thursday that the U.S. and Canada are each other’s biggest customers and that the tariffs made the industry “less competitive on both sides of the border.”
Economists and businesses have previously sounded the alarm that sweeping tariffs raise prices for consumers, meaning Americans could likely feel a pinch in their wallets when buying knitted sweaters, ice skates or Christmas ornaments imported from Canada.
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