OTTAWA: Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on US goods took effect after midnight on Tuesday, intensifying an 18-month-old trade war and spurring Prime Minister Mark Carney to urge a further shift away from the country’s biggest trading partner.
The Canadian levies follow 50% tariffs the United States imposed on some US$20bil of Canadian goods last month, after several rounds of negotiations collapsed.
The breakdown has widened a rift between the longtime allies, both of whom have blamed the other for the failed talks.
“We have everything we need to pivot and prosper,” Carney said on Tuesday in a video posted on YouTube after the tariffs came into effect.
“That pivot will come at a cost. There’s always a cost to action. But it doesn’t come close to the cost of standing still,” he said.
Ottawa designed the retaliatory measures to put economic and political pressure on Washington, Canadian government officials said, and the tariffs are expected to hit sectors in some competitive states such as Michigan and Ohio, ahead of US midterm elections in November.
Gabriel Brunet, spokesperson for Dominic LeBlanc, Canadian minister responsible for bilateral US trade, said: “Canadian and American officials have maintained ongoing discussions on a range of issues, although formal trade negotiations are not taking place at this stage.”
Ottawa’s counter-tariffs cover some US$20bil of US goods, with duties ranging from 15% to 50% across products from steel and furniture to clothing and electronics.
While the new tariffs affect a small amount of exports compared with total trade between the United States and Canada, some analysts worry the standoff could destabilise the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the free-trade pact that succeeded North American Free Trade Agreement.
Together they have underpinned commerce across North America for decades.
“What we are worried about is an escalatory spiral,” said Michael Harvey, executive director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance and a member of Carney’s advisory committee on bilateral US economic relations.
“But at the same time, we totally understand that the prime minister needs to find areas of leverage,” Harvey said.
Trump’s social media posts focused on Canada over the holiday weekend as Ottawa’s tariff deadline approached.
Canadian private jet maker Bombardier would no longer be allowed to sell its planes in the United States unless it started manufacturing in the country, Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday, without saying whether an official government order would follow.
The company’s shares opened down more than 6% on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
On Monday, Trump posted a map of North America draped in the US flag, including Canada and Mexico.
He also shared an artificial intelligence-generated image reviving a running jab at Carney, calling him “governor”, a reference to his repeated taunt that Canada should become the 51st US state.
Trump’s tariffs implemented last month hit sectors including wine, furniture, dairy products, cement, clothing, fishing rods and hockey equipment, covering US$20bil, or 5%, of Canadian exports to the United States.
According to Canadian and the US government data, Canada has shipped almost 68% of total exports to the United States this year, out of which roughly 80% moved duty-free due to exemptions under the USMCA pact.
Furthermore, protections under the agreement have provided the economy some resilience.
The new tariffs, imposed under a Depression-era US law, do not allow Ottawa to exercise USMCA exemptions.
Concerns about the USMCA’s future have fuelled uncertainty about investment and growth, as Canada wages a trade war against an economy 13 times its size.
Polls also show Carney has broad support from Canadians, but that could disappear within months as the consequences of the trade war sink in, according to political analysts.
A new poll from Angus Reid on Tuesday showed that approval of Carney’s performance jumped 11 points to 62% from an August poll.
Meanwhile, just 20% of Americans approved of Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods, a Reuters/Ipsos poll recently found. — Reuters
