WASHINGTON — President Trump announced a sweeping 50% tariff on select Canadian goods, framing the action as a response to what his administration called Canada’s “continuous discrimination” against American products.
The levy, set to take effect in 30 days, will cover a variety of imports such as wine, hockey sticks and cement. Still, administration officials signaled during a Monday briefing call that the White House remains willing to negotiate.
“Canada has retained substantial retaliation against the United States,” a senior administration official told reporters on the call.
The official described the tariffs as “defensive measures by the United States taken to remedy discriminatory actions by Canada,” and said the administration intends to hold its northern neighbor “accountable.”
Energy products and essential goods, including fish and critical minerals, will be exempt from the new tariff.
“This is not a trade war with Canada,” the official said, arguing that Trump’s goal is to address what the administration views as an imbalance in trade between the two countries.
The announcement is likely to catch Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney off guard, as Trump did not raise the impending tariffs when the two leaders spoke during Sunday’s World Cup final.
“Although the president and the prime minister met and they had a one-on-one, it was not a visit to talk about trade and tariffs from our perspective,” the official said.
There may be more tariffs to come, the Trump administration warned.
Trump has vowed to hold Canada accountable for the wildfire smoke that polluted air across the northeast and down the eastern coast for several days last week.
“Maybe they should pay us some damages or something, or we should do some tariffs,” Trump told reporters on Sunday.
The president is still examining his options there.
“These are not the so-called wildfire tariffs. The president has asked for options on that, and options are being shared with him,” the official said.
The US goods trade deficit with Canada was $46.4 billion in 2025, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.
Trump has long seen Canada as a bete noir and publicly mussed about making it America’s 51st state. He had an antagonistic relationship with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
He and Carney have a cordial but tense relationship even though they had a friendly conversation at Sunday’s soccer match.
“We have reached agreement with many of our trading partners,” the official noted. “We, of course, hope to be able to do the same with Canada and other trading partners, but at the same time, we will not tolerate discrimination against US goods.”
The two nations have been involved in a year-long trade tit-for-tat.
Trump has hit Canada with a variety of tariffs and Ottawa has responded with tariffs of its own in a repeated back-and-forth trade scuffle.
Currently, US tariffs on Canadian goods include a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum, a 35% tariff on softwood lumber, a 10% tariff on certain energy products, a 12.5% tariff related to forced labor prohibitions, and a 25% tariff on cars not built in the US.
In response to those tariffs, Canada imposed a 25% tariff on fully assembled motor vehicles imported from the United States and on alcohol products. On dairy, Canada only imposes a tariff when American imports pass a certain threshold.
