Trump threatens Canada with new 50% tariffs in latest ramp

Trump threatens Canada with new 50% tariffs in latest ramp-up of trade war

Trump to impose new 50% tariff on some Canadian exports | Hanomansing Tonight

Trump hits Canada with new 50 per cent tariffs

CBC’s Katie Simpson breaks down the key details of U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to impose 50 per cent tariffs on a wide range of Canadian products, over what the White House calls discriminatory trade policies.

Some called for calm, and others for retaliation, after the U.S. announced plans Monday to impose 50 per cent tariffs on a wide range of Canadian exports.

But the prevailing sense among politicians and industry leaders was one of frustration and exhaustion over U.S. President Donald Trump's latest trade war escalation.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a carefully worded statement that Canada is "ready to engage" with the U.S. to resolve the months-long trade dispute. Some industry leaders, including Flavio Volpe, the president of Canada's Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, urged a patient and considered response.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, meanwhile, quickly said Canada should retaliate by hitting the U.S. "tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar." B.C. Premier David Eby also made his impatience known, saying the tariffs will mostly increase costs for American citizens.

"At this point I just feel sorry for Americans," Eby said. "If you're picking fights with Canadians, you don't have a friend in the world."

The tariffs, which capture many goods previously shielded from tariffs under the CUSMA free trade agreement, are set to take effect in 30 days.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the move is meant to offset Canada's "retaliation and discrimination" against U.S. exports.

'It's going to be a very tense meeting of the premiers': analyst

On Monday, the United States announced it will impose new 50 per cent tariffs on a wide range of Canadian exports. The duties will take effect in 30 days, targeting goods ranging from wine, hockey sticks and cement to dairy, furniture and wigs. The announcement comes ahead of the annual premiers' meeting in Charlottetown from July 21 to 23. Rob Russo, Kate Harrison and Laura D'Angelo stop by Power & Politics for the Power Panel.

U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise announcement of new tariffs on Canada will shift the focus of the premiers meetings in Charlottetown, PEI.

Before Monday's news, premiers had listed health-care transfers, energy development, economic growth and the wildfires destroying swaths of northern Ontario as priorities for their three-day annual summer meeting. Now it's Trump who will be taking up the oxygen in the room.

But getting the 13 premiers to agree on a united response to the latest tariffs threat will take some negotiating.

In reaction to Trump's previous tariffs on various parts of the Canadian economy, including the auto sector, steel and aluminum, nearly every province banned the sale of U.S. alcohol — with the exception of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Some premiers are already urging a strong response to Trump's latest measures.

"If these tariffs proceed, Canada should respond tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar," Ontario Premier Doug Ford posted on social media today.

Jeff Guignard, president and CEO of Wine Growers British Columbia, is calling on Canadians to support domestic producers after today's tariff announcement.

"If this frustrates you at home as much as it does us, the best thing you can do is go and purchase some Canadian wine," he told CBC News.

Guignard says he doesn't understand the logic of the U.S. making Canadian alcohol more expensive and difficult for Americans to purchase, but says the move could hurt small producers in Canada.

"If you're that small business that has nothing to do with this trade dispute, and you found that your services or goods you provide to the United States are now more expensive for the American consumer and you can't fix that — that's really hurtful, really insulting," he said.

NDP Leader Avi Lewis says the announcement of new tariffs is "the latest economic grenade thrown over the border by an out of control President who has lost touch with reality."

In a social media post, Lewis urged the Liberal government to prepare countermeasures and support packages for impacted workers should the tariffs be implemented.

Thousands of jobs were at risk from the tariffs, Lewis said, calling them a direct attack on Canadian workers and industries.

"The Carney government must refrain from more concessions," Lewis said. "We are tired of being treated as Trump's tariff guinea pig."

The Conservative Party of Canada, in a statement issued by several shadow ministers, called Trump's latest tariffs "another unacceptable and unjustified attack on Canadian workers and our businesses."

"Canadians are not a punching bag. Their anxieties about their future have only been deepened. These tariffs must be withdrawn immediately," said the statement signed by Shuvaloy Majumdar, Eric Duncan, Stephanie Kusie and Pierre Paul-Hus.

The statement went on to say Canada is in a "major crisis" over the breakdown of its relationship with the U.S. and criticized Carney, saying the prime minister "was wrong to surrender Canada's leverage for over a year and a half, without actually working to secure the deal he promised."

British Columbia Premier David Eby says he feels badly for struggling Americans who will pay the new Trump administration's tariffs on Canadian goods.

"Mostly it's going to increase costs for Americans when they can least afford it," Eby told CBC News in Charlottetown, where he is attending the meeting of premiers.

"At this point I just feel sorry for Americans. If you're picking fights with Canadians, you don't have a friend in the world," he said.

Eby said he has asked his staff to request the U.S. ambassador remove a Canadian statement of support of the historic friendship between the two allies posted on a U.S. government website commemorating its 250th anniversary.

"We're still friends with Americans, but right now it's just hard to feel anything but sorry for the United States," he said.

Provincially owned liquor stores would "absolutely not" be putting American alcohol back on their shelves while the trade dispute was ongoing, he said.

"I have to talk to forestry families that face a tariff of above 50 per cent because our softwood is a 'national security risk' in the United States, while Russian softwood is taking its place."

Eby suggested Trump's actions in pursuing a trade war with America's closest ally were irrational. "I can't make sense of what the president is doing. Nobody can," he said.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has released a carefully worded statement responding to the Trump administration announcing 50 per cent tariffs on a number of Canadian goods.

"This is the latest in a series of unilateral U.S. trade actions that began with the U.S. imposing a series of tariffs in direct violation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), the free trade agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico," Carney said.

"These include tariffs on the Canadian auto sector, in violation of CUSMA. Canada, as is its right, has merely matched those measures."

Carney said Canada was united in response to these "threats to Canadian sovereignty" and was taking action to protect its economy and citizens.

"Recognizing that the U.S. has been transforming all of its trade relationships, including those covered under CUSMA, over the past 18 months, Canada has made a series of detailed and comprehensive proposals to resolve this dispute and to modernize CUSMA," he said. "We stand ready to intensify those discussions in the coming weeks."

Carney's government has signed more than 20 new economic security partnerships he noted, underscoring its commitment to free and fair trade.

"This trade dispute has raised costs for families, particularly in the U.S. Canada stands ready to engage intensively to address outstanding issues with the U.S. to the mutual benefit of our citizens," he said.

"In all circumstances, Canada will work relentlessly and take any measures necessary to build our strength at home and to support Canadian workers, farmers, businesses and families.”

Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Corpay, says the latest round of tariffs risks deepening the tit-for-tat spiral of retaliation and dragging Canada's currency to a weaker place.

While the Canadian dollar slid a bit following the announcement, Schamotta says the fact that it didn't "fall off a cliff" is good news — and a sign that markets view the new proclamations as a threat.

"It may be a bet that markets are making that this is a negotiation tactic as opposed to, you know, a serious effort to raise tariffs substantially on Canada," he told CBC's Hanomansing Tonight.

Still, he says the 50 per cent levies could deal a "devastating blow" to the Canadian economy if they do come to pass.

"It's definitely something that could inflict a lot of damage," Schamotta said. "So, you know … we can't downplay its importance right now, it's something that everyone needs to take very, very seriously."

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce says the decision to expand tariffs is a "needless, reckless escalation" in the trade war imposed on Canada by Trump.

Daniel Tisch, president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement Monday that Canada must stand up for its businesses over the next 30 days while pursuing a negotiated solution.

"Canadian and American businesses alike are tired of this endless cycle of threats, retaliation and uncertainty," Tisch said.

"Tariffs are taxes on growth. They mean higher costs, disrupted supply chains, delayed investment decisions and increased pressure on workers, businesses and communities on both sides of the border."

Tisch said the latest threat is a reminder that Canada's economic future cannot rely on decisions made by an "unreliable partner" in Washington.

"Canada's first ministers must act now to remove internal trade barriers, accelerate approvals for nation-building infrastructure, help businesses diversify export markets and create the conditions for businesses to invest and innovate, to stay here and scale here," he said.

Tisch said the best response is to make the Canadian economy "stronger, more competitive and more self-reliant."

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet has denounced the Trump administration's tariffs as an "irrational and harmful aggression" that shows the prime minister is failing to protect Canada.

"The imposition of these new tariffs confirms the failure of the Carney government's strategy of compromise, which has damaged Quebec's culture and economy and abandoned the strong, 'elbows up' stance that earned Mark Carney his mandate in 2025," Blanchet said in a statement in French.

Quebec has already been disproportionately impacted by tariffs, Blanchet said.

"The government must implement measures, as the Bloc Québécois has been demanding for over a year, to support Quebec's economy," he said.