The U.S. was poised to move ahead early Saturday with 50% tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian goods after eleventh-hour negotiations failed to defuse the latest dispute between the longtime allies. Canada’s leader responded by vowing to match the duties “dollar for dollar.”
Speaking to reporters late Friday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Canada had refused to finalize a trade agreement on terms that he said had been settled earlier in the week.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, in a separate statement, said the “progress” made during the talks had “not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians.”
“As a result, this evening, I have decided to suspend trade negotiations with the U.S. and have directed Canada’s negotiators to return to Ottawa,” Carney said, adding that “Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses.”
President Trump’s new import taxes would apply to roughly 5% of Canada’s annual exports to the United States, covering items that range from hockey sticks to tongue depressors.
The economic damage may be limited compared with the broader political fallout. Canada has already warned it will answer any new U.S. tariffs with duties of its own, escalating a trade conflict between two countries that exchanged $880 billion in goods and services last year.
The tariffs had originally been scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Mr. Trump pushed the deadline back by three days to give negotiators more time, but the two sides were still unable to reach a deal before the extension expired.
Earlier in the week, Carney had said that “substantial progress has been made, although there is important work still to be done.”
The Trump administration currently imposes a 10% tariff on goods from Canada, the U.S.’s second-largest trading partner after Mexico, though most Canadian imports are exempt because they comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal signed during Mr. Trump’s first term.
Mr. Trump has had a tense relationship with Canada due to trade, NATO, a dispute over a Detroit-area bridge and his threats to make Canada the U.S.’ 51st state.
