US slaps 50% tariffs on US$20 billion of Canadian goods after trade talks fail

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed retaliation and support measures, rejecting ‘unfair’ US demands as last-minute brinkmanship

The United States imposed 50 per cent tariffs on US$20 billion worth of Canadian products early on Saturday and Canada immediately said it would retaliate, after last-ditch negotiations failed to resolve the latest strain in already tense relations between the historic allies.

US President Donald Trump’s import taxes will hit about 5 per cent of what Canada ships to the United States every year, including products ranging from hockey sticks to tongue depressors.

“Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement. The retaliation escalates the trade conflict and calls into question the future of a North American trade pact between the US, Canada and Mexico that is crucial to industry in all three countries.

Canada sought concessions on Trump tariffs on steel, aluminium, vehicles and timber that the US was unwilling to provide, a senior Trump administration official told reporters.

“Tonight, Canada declined to finalise the trade deal under the terms agreed earlier this week. Despite the US 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,” US trade representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement read to reporters on a press call shortly before midnight.

Carney blamed Washington for the breakdown, saying “last-minute changes in the US proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic and called into question the reliability of any deal.” He said he had suspended negotiations and directed Canada’s negotiating team to return to Ottawa.