Canada counter-tariffs on US goods take effect

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on billions of dollars in US goods took effect Tuesday, escalating a trade dispute with the United States.

The duties of 15 percent, 25 percent and 50 percent apply to $27.6 billion, or US$20 billion, in imports from the United States. They cover steel and aluminum products as well as dairy goods such as cheese, though Canada removed some seafood products from the initial list.

Ottawa’s move follows US President Donald Trump’s 50-percent tariffs on a similar value of Canadian goods. Washington said those measures were imposed over what it called discriminatory treatment of US alcohol, automobile and dairy industries. The US tariffs affected items including hockey sticks and cement and covered about 5.5 percent of Canadian exports to the United States.

Trump also threatened Monday to block sales by Canada’s Bombardier Aviation in the United States unless the Quebec-based plane maker moves manufacturing to the US. He did not specify how he would carry out a sales halt.

Bombardier said Monday that it supports tens of thousands of jobs across the United States, directly employs people in more than 20 states and spends more than $2.5 billion each year with suppliers. The company said its supply chain includes about 2,800 American companies across 47 states.

Trade talks between Ottawa and Washington broke down on August 21 after meetings in Washington. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he suspended the talks because the Trump administration’s terms were unacceptable, including late-stage restrictions on Canadian trade deals with other countries.

Carney also said US negotiators made unacceptable threats to French language protections and Quebec culture. Trump’s top trade official, Jamieson Greer, later told Canadian public broadcaster CBC that French language protections were not something the United States would “push hard, or condition, or red-line.”

Canada remains closely tied to the US economy. Nearly 60 percent of Canada’s imports come from the United States and about 70 percent of its exports go to the US market. The Canadian government has announced a $7.5 billion, or US$5.4 billion, aid package to help businesses and workers.