TORONTO – U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10 per cent for a year echoes what some advocates in Canada have also been pushing for, and banks pushing against.
Consumer advocate Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, last month put it as a top priority for the Canadian federal government to take on to stop what he characterized as “bank gouging.”
The financial industry, meanwhile, has generally pushed against measures to limit interest rates, saying such actions would cut some consumers off from the credit option and force others to pay more through fees or alternative services.
Similar arguments were made before the federal government last year lowered the maximum allowable interest rates for any loan to 35 per cent on an annual percentage rate from 48 per cent.
The Canadian Bankers Association has noted in the past that most Canadians use credit cards as a payment tool, rather than for credit, and that there are credit cards with lower interest rates for those who want to carry a balance.
Claire Celerier, Canada Research Chair in household finance at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, says credit card costs go well beyond just interest rates, so any attempt to lower the burden on consumers needs to consider the full picture.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 12, 2026.
