Canada vows dollar-for

Canada vows dollar-for-dollar tariff retaliation, suspends trade talks with U.S.

OTTAWA — A last-ditch effort to reach a new trade deal before a midnight tariff deadline failed Friday, as Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended talks with the United States and summoned his negotiators back to Ottawa.

The decision meant new 50 per cent tariffs on billions of dollars in Canadian exports to the U.S. took effect at 12:01 a.m., and Carney vowed Canada would retaliate with equal measures of its own.

"In recent weeks, we made important progress toward improving Canada's position as having the best deal in the world with the U.S.," Carney said in a statement just before Trump's tariff deadline.

"However, that progress has not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians."

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and chief negotiator Janice Charette have been in Washington for nearly two straight weeks trying to get to a deal, including multiple hours of talks with Greer on Friday.

"They have worked hard, in good faith, to defend the interests of Canadians throughout these negotiations up until the very last minute," said Carney.

"However, last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal."

The new U.S. tariffs target $28 billion in Canadian goods ranging from hockey sticks and honey to essential oils and dairy products.

Details of what goods Canada will tariff in response are not yet available.

Carney also said the government will introduce measures to support Canadian workers and businesses in the coming days.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Friday that the U.S. and Canada had "declined" to finalize a tentative agreement, and laid the blame entirely on Canada.

"Despite the U.S. 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," said Greer.

"In addition, Canada is continuing to maintain its prolonged retaliation against the United States, including, among other things, flat-out prohibitions on certain American goods and services."

Greer told reporters the failed deal represented a "missed opportunity," noting that the U.S. was offering significant tariff reductions on steel, aluminum, autos and lumber in exchange for concessions from Canada.

He said the deal also included an economic and national security partnership, as well as the announcement of formal U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement negotiations.

The Trump administration did not extend CUSMA in July. That triggered an annual rolling review of the trade deal for up to a decade, at which point it would expire if all three countries cannot come to an agreement for an extension.