Canada vows retaliation as 50% US tariffs take effect

Canada will impose retaliatory duties on some US goods after Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected a trade deal with US President Donald Trump and 50-percent US tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian exports took effect Saturday.

Carney said Friday that Canada would not let another nation determine its future as talks aimed at avoiding punitive duties collapsed before Trump’s deadline. The US tariffs affect goods including hockey sticks and cement.

Carney said Saturday that Ottawa would match the US tariffs “dollar for dollar” to protect Canadian workers and businesses. The Canadian duties, including on US steel and dairy products, are due to begin September 8.

Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre called on Canadians to stand united against what he called unfair attacks on jobs and businesses.

The United States is Canada’s largest trading partner, with exports to the United States making up 70 percent of Canada’s total exports. Royal Bank of Canada analysts said the new US duties affect 5.5 percent of those exports but still carry a real economic cost, especially for Quebec and Ontario. Trevor Tombe, an economics professor at the University of Calgary, said on X that a long-term tariff regime could cost 90,000 Canadian jobs.