Donald Trump orders new 50% tariffs on many Canadian imports

“Today, President Trump took decisive action to hold Canada accountable for its retaliation and discrimination, delivering on his promise to correct trade imbalances and ensure fairness for American workers, farmers, and businesses,” United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer wrote in a statement.

The tariffs are being imposed under Section 338 of the Great Depression-era Tariff Act of 1930, a nearly century-old provision that allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 50 per cent on imports from countries that discriminate against U.S. commerce. 

A background document from Greer’s office notes that the new tariffs will be imposed on roughly $20 billion in Canadian imports and will come into effect in 30 days.

“These are defensive measures by the United States taken to remedy discriminatory actions by Canada,” a senior U.S. official told reporters Monday afternoon on a background basis, noting that Section 338 had never-before been invoked for such a purpose.

The official said the tariffs would cover products “ranging from wine to hockey sticks to cement,” with the full list targeting a number of Canadian industries like alcohol, forestry and wood products, furniture, paper, agriculture, consumer goods and manufactured goods. Specific goods run the gamut from beer to brandy, milk to molasses, honey to flower bulbs, and glassware to wigs.

The tariffs will apply to CUSMA-compliant goods, with the official adding that energy, potash, fish and critical minerals would be exempt.

In a statement issued late Monday, Prime Minister Mark Carney backed Canada’s handling of the trade spat thus far.

“This is the latest in a series of unilateral U.S. trade actions that began with the U.S. imposing a series of tariffs in direct violation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), the free trade agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico,” the prime minister’s statement read. “These include tariffs on the Canadian auto sector, in violation of CUSMA. Canada, as is its right, has merely matched those measures.

“This trade dispute has raised costs for families, particularly in the U.S. Canada stands ready to engage intensively to address outstanding issues with the U.S. to the mutual benefit of our citizens.”

Earlier in the day at Queen’s Park, Premier Doug Ford had urged Carney to retaliate against the latest trade threat.

“I’ll never stop fighting to protect Ontario. If these tariffs proceed, Canada should respond tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar,” Ford said in a statement moments after the president’s announcement.

Since April 2025, Canada has imposed a 25 per cent tariff on American cars in retaliation for tariffs the Trump administration first imposed on Canadian-made vehicles.

Companies that manufacture vehicles in Canada can apply for some tariff relief under the tariff rules.

Except for Alberta and Saskatchewan, all Canadian provinces have restricted the sale of American alcohol, pulling everything from California wines to bourbon off the shelves at an immense cost to American producers.

In the proclamation Trump signed on Monday, the White House estimated that the value of U.S. alcohol imports into Canada fell from approximately $718 million in the year before the ban to approximately $137 million in the year after most provinces pulled the products.

The move comes three weeks after the Trump administration said it would not extend CUSMA “in its current form.”

The latest turn in the ongoing conflict prompted multiple business groups and trade experts on Monday to frame the move as a costly development that shifts the dispute into new territory.

The head of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce blasted Trump’s move, saying it would hurt businesses and consumers on both sides of the border. 

“This is another needless, reckless escalation in Trump’s unilateral trade war. Canadian and American businesses alike are tired of this endless cycle of threats, retaliation, and uncertainty,” said OCC CEO Daniel Tisch.

“For Ontario and Canada, this moment calls for calm, resolve, patience and persistence. In the next 30 days and beyond, we must stand up for our businesses while pursuing a negotiated and durable resolution.”

Matthew Holmes, the head of government policy for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said that monthlong timeline creates a potential off-ramp. 

“It also offers both sides a 30-day window to make meaningful progress on formal talks where all of these issues can be discussed at the negotiating table,” Holmes said. 

When asked Monday what the U.S. would need to see to walk back its newest tariffs, the U.S. official only said that Trump was “taking this one step at a time.” 

The latest escalation follows Trump’s separate threat last week to impose tariffs linked to Canadian wildfire smoke, although U.S. officials said Monday those measures are being considered separately.

The president’s decision to target Canada with Section 338 tariffs, meanwhile, marks “a significant escalation” in the country’s trade war, said veteran international trade lawyer John Boscariol.

“This is very serious,” said Boscariol, head of the trade law group at McCarthy Tetrault. “The U.S administration has put its mind to targeting goods originating under CUSMA. I think we all got used to CUSMA being an exemption.”

But Flavio Volpe, the head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, said Canada should refrain from “panic.”

“They are trying new avenues to be able to target specific countries with tariffs,” Volpe said. “The American justification for these ones, though, are Canadian counter-tariffs to the original American ones. All is fair and love and war, even if it’s based on nonsense.”

With files from Robert Benzie