Get ready to pay more for Canadian imports — and not just maple syrup and hockey sticks.
As the trade war between Canada and the US escalates, items like steel, aluminum, wool and lumber will spike in price this week thanks to retaliatory tariffs on over $20 billion worth of goods. The move went into effect just after midnight on Tuesday.
Canada’s counter-tariffs were first announced two weeks ago after negotiations with the US reached a stalemate. Just days before, the Prime Minister told the world Canada was “at war” with the US.
“We were attacked. You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked,” Carney told reporters on August 22. “That’s fine. We’ve got the reserves. We’ve got the resilience. We’ve got the plan. We’ve got the focus. We will respond.”
Carney revealed the duties will range between 15%, 25% and 50%, with the rate for each product matching the US dollar-for-dollar.
The move will likely cost you at the cash register.
Items facing 50% tariffs will be on products like American milk, perfume, golf clubs, steel, aluminum, jackets and T-shirts. Products subject to 25% tariffs are cheese, carpets, certain household appliances like stoves and air conditioners, while forklifts and some industrial molds will face 15% tariffs.
Experts say the new round of levies will likely hit Midwestern states — like Michigan and Indiana — especially hard as their economies are deeply tied to the auto industry and manufacturing. Dairy producers in Wisconsin and Vermont are also expecting to take a hit as 50% tariffs will hurt dairy farmers.
The new round of tariffs only impacts a fraction of the goods that pass through the US-Canada border — totaling over $700 billion last year, according to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. It does, however, represent an escalating dispute between the former allies.
President Trump took to Truth Social yesterday, upping the ante by blasting the once-friendly neighbor with threats to no longer sell Bombardier — a Canadian jet maker in the US. Trump said the aircraft maker must build its jets in the US or lose access to the market.
“If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank,’” the Truth Social post read.
Canada’s tariffs were imposed after the US put levies on items like Canadian milk, hockey sticks, alcohol, plywood and other goods. Last month, negotiations collapsed, only intensifying an 18-month-old trade war.
The growing tensions could impact the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement (USMCA) — which officially went into effect in 2020 — replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The agreement is now up for annual review as Trump has declined to extend it for another decade.
Canadian and US government data revealed that Canada shipped nearly 68% of total exports to the US this year, where about 80% came through duty-free due under the USMCA pact.
“I don’t want Canadian cars, I don’t want Canadian parts, I don’t want Canadian anything,” Trump said on Truth Social last month. “They’ve been ripping us off for decades, and it’s going to stop.”
