Finance22 August, 20262 min read
Mark Carney Says Canada Will Match U.S. 50% Tariffs After Trade Talks Collapse
U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian goods after talks collapsed. Canada vows to match tariffs dollar-for-dollar.
Tariffs start after talks
U.S.-Canada trade talks collapsed late Friday night, and Prime Minister Mark Carney said the United States’ new 50% tariffs on a wide swath of Canadian goods were “a miscalculation” as the duties began at the stroke of midnight. Carney said Canada would match the U.S. tariffs “dollar for dollar” and that the retaliatory tariffs would be concentrated in sectors such as steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics.
NBC News reported the tariffs affect about $20 billion worth of U.S. imports from Canada, with the import taxes hitting goods including hockey sticks, building materials, liquors, and certain kinds of clothing. The BBC said the tariffs came into effect on Saturday after Carney announced the suspension of negotiations shortly before the Friday night deadline and directed negotiators “to return to Ottawa.”
Carney vs Greer
Carney told reporters that “last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal,” and he said Canada would not compromise Canada’s sovereignty or undermine key industries.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer responded that Canada “declined to finalize the trade deal under the terms agreed earlier this week,” and he added that new demands and walk backs by Canada upended the balance reached in the past days.
The BBC reported that negotiators had been discussing a deal to reduce U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium from 50% to 25% and on Canadian autos from 25% to 15%, before the breakdown put the relationship “in uncharted territory.”
In Ottawa, Carney also said the U.S. “asked too much and offered too little,” while Greer told Fox News there were “no new talks planned with the Canadians.”
Retaliation timeline and impact
Canada said its retaliatory tariffs would begin on Sept. 8, and NPR reported Carney told Canadians the move would initiate retaliatory tariffs against U.S. imports starting Sept. 8.
“Canada will match those tariffs ‘dollar for dollar’ to protect our workers and businesses.”
NPR also said the U.S. began enforcing 50% tariffs on a slew of Canadian goods, and that U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a bulletin to businesses warning officers would be ensuring importers complied with the new rates starting immediately after the deadline passed.
The BBC said the new levies are applied on a range of goods, about 5% of Canadian exports, including wine, dairy, cement, clothing and hockey equipment, and it reported financial analysts projected the new 50% tariffs could reduce Canada’s GDP by 0.3% to 0.6%.
In a separate account, the Guardian said the tariffs came into force on about $20bn (£14.6bn) of goods at 04.00 GMT and quoted Carney saying, “Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses.”