As hours tick down to Canada's counter

No talks scheduled as Canada's counter-tariffs against U.S. set to take effect at 12:01 a.m.

Prime Minister's Office says no plans for last-minute talks as trade war escalates

Just hours before Canada is set to hit the U.S. with counter-tariffs on $27.6 billion worth of goods, the two sides have no plans to negotiate a last-minute deal.

The Prime Minister's Office confirmed to CBC News that there are no calls scheduled between Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, and no plans for Canadian trade negotiators to return to the table ahead of the 12:01 a.m. Tuesday deadline.

That's when the counter-tariffs are set to hit over 700 American products.

What went wrong with U.S. trade talks, according to Canada's chief negotiator

The tariffs, which range from 15 to 50 per cent, come as a tit-for-tat response to Trump's latest 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods that he imposed last month after trade talks collapsed on the cusp of a deal.

The highest tariffs target industries hit hardest by tariffs from the U.S. They include steel, dairy and wood products.

'We're not going to just sit down'

In an interview with CBC News last week, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer warned about U.S. retaliation, suggesting the U.S. might consider bans on Canadian products.

"If there's further retaliation from the Canadian side, of course, we're not going to just sit down and take that. Our view is, 'Don't retaliate,'" he told CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton.

U.S. trade rep disputes why talks fell apart | Canadian exclusive

On Friday, Trump threatened to stop all trade with Canada.

“All we have to do to cut our trade deficit with a country is not trade with them. Canada is one," he said to media in the Oval Office at the White House. "If we don’t do any trading with Canada, we just end all trade with Canada, we’d save ourself $90 billion. Don't forget, they do almost all of their business with the United States and we do a relatively small amount of business with them."

The breakdown of talks comes with an amplification of criticisms from the president.

In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump took aim at Canada's exchange rate with the U.S., calling it "unacceptable."

On Monday morning, Trump posted a photo of the map of North America, with Canada, Mexico and Greenland overlaid with the American flag, depicting the entire region as the United States.

Carney has responded to the recent rhetoric by suggesting Canada is open to heading back to the negotiating table, but only if the U.S. stops "throwing shade" and starts "being serious" about finalizing a trade deal.

Ottawa offers billions in supports

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Greer blamed the breakdown of talks on Canada and suggested that the onus to resume talks was on Ottawa's leadership.

"They looked this deal square in the face and after a few days decided to walk it back," he said. "The future of it, well, that depends on Canada. They're the ones who walked away and announced the suspension of talks."

Ottawa is rolling out $7.5 billion in supports to help workers and businesses weather the impact of the trade war amid the recent escalations.

The support package comes on top of the nearly $25 billion in tariff aid it implemented over the past 18 months.

Racy Rafique is a producer for CBC's national television program Power & Politics. She also works as a writer covering federal politics for CBC's parliamentary bureau. Racy was a 2023 CBC Joan Donaldson Scholar and is a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University. You can reach her at reathia.rafique@cbc.ca.