Canada announced a slew of new tariffs on U.S. imports Wednesday amid an escalating trade war with President Donald Trump.
Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods went into effect last week, causing significant stock market pain, though the president eventually exempted all United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement-compliant products, which include roughly 38% and 50% of imports from Canada and Mexico, respectively.
Canada’s latest retaliation will affect roughly $21 billion in trade with the U.S., though the Canadian government has not yet said which specific sectors will be affected. The announcement comes just days after Canada’s Liberal Party elected Mark Carney to replace Justin Trudeau as prime minister.
This round of barrier taxes, a response to the 25% tariffs the Trump administration put into effect on steel and aluminum products overnight, follows previous tariffs Canada placed on U.S. liquor and other products.
The European Union has similarly announced new tariffs responding to Trump’s metal taxes on U.S. goods totaling $28 billion, including American beef, motorcycles, whiskey, and U.S.-made steel and aluminum.
The White House did not issue an initial response to Canada’s announcement. Earlier this week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to states like New York and Michigan, prompting Trump to threaten to double the metal tariffs applied to Canada.
Both sides eventually walked back those positions, with Ford agreeing to meet with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
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Trump plans to announce his full slate of reciprocal tariffs for U.S. trading partners on April 2. That list is expected to include automobiles, pharmaceuticals, lumber, copper, and more.
Still, Trump has suggested he would drop the flat 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and the 20% tariff he placed on all Chinese imports, if and when those three countries make substantive progress toward disrupting the flow of fentanyl to the U.S.