The latest news as Donald Trump’s administration imposes tariffs on Canada. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
7:40 p.m.: Leaders across Canada are calling for retaliation and unity in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports.
Read the full story from the Star’s Abby O’Brien and Kristjan Lautens.
7:38 p.m.: The White House Situation Room must be dutifully preparing for the possibility of Premier Doug Ford receiving a strong mandate from Ontario voters to negotiate with U.S. President Donald Trump.
After all, Ford says he needs a mandate to negotiate with Trump, so it must be important. But as those of us in Toronto know, lacking one has never stopped him before.
As over the top and dramatic as Ford is being by framing the need for an election so bizarrely, the premier is offering a valuable way to look back on his nearly six years as premier and remind ourselves of all he’s done in and around the GTA without a strong and specific “mandate.”
Read the full column from the Star’s Shawn Micallef.
7:18 p.m.: The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said the tariffs will boost inflation in the U.S. and harm both countries’ economies.
“We are deeply disappointed that U.S. President Trump has decided to institute tariffs on Canadian goods. Nobody wins with the introduction of tariffs on Canadian energy. These tariffs undermine our mutually beneficial relationship and are likely to increase costs and inflation for American consumers while damaging the economies of both countries,” said CAPP president and CEO Lisa Baiton.
“With the complexity of North American and global oil and natural markets, it is difficult to predict how the application of a 10 percent tariff on Canadian oil and gas will impact supply, demand and trade patterns. What we do know is that Canadian producers have demonstrated they are innovative and resilient and will find the best ways to mitigate the impact of tariffs and realign themselves to thrive in a dynamic global market. CAPP and our members will need to take the necessary time to better understand how these tariffs will be applied and their impact to oil and natural gas trade for Canada before commenting further.”
7:10 p.m.: Jim Stanford, chief economist at the Centre for Future Work, estimated that up to a million Canadians could lose their jobs from the impact of Trump’s tariffs, and that the country’s economy could shrink by 2.5 per cent in the first year of the tariffs.
“There’s almost certain to be a recession,” Stanford said.
7:06 p.m.: Speaking to CNN, Ontario PC leader Doug Ford stressed that impacts would be felt on both sides of the border and maintained imposing reciprocating tariffs on electricity, which could see power cut to over 1.5 million homes in the U.S., was not off the table.
“That’s the last thing I want to do,” he said, “but that’s a tool that we have in our toolbox.”
Ford also floated the possibility of placing tariffs on crude oil (Canada currently supplies 60 per cent of American total oil imports) and the automotive industry. Ultimately, he said, he’d rather strike a deal with the states, and expressed a desire to sit down with the U.S. president to discuss a strengthened partnership.
7:01 p.m.: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have yet to formally respond to Trump’s tariff response, but Trudeau, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Public Safety Minister David McGuinty are expected to address reporters at 8:30 pm ET.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called on the government to recall Parliament, which has been prorogued until late March.
He issued six demands, including retaliating with “dollar-for-dollar tariffs carefully aimed at maximizing impact on American companies while minimizing impact on Canadian consumers” and sending all revenues generated by tariffs back to “affected workers and businesses.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, meanwhile, said Trump had “unleashed an unprecedented trade war” against its northern neighbour and said Ottawa must offer relief to affected Canadians and put forward a “strong commitment to buy Canadian.
6:59 p.m: Trump’s tariffs could shrink the size of the Canadian economy by tens of billions of dollars, cost “hundreds of thousands” of jobs, push the country into a recession and crush the loonie, said Pedro Antunes, chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada.
“It’s absolute madness,” said Antunes. “We could be looking at a 60-cent dollar within a week.”
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce also blasted the tariffs.
“President Trump’s profoundly disturbing decision to impose tariffs will have immediate and direct consequences on Canadian and American livelihoods. Tariffs will drastically increase the cost of everything for everyone: every day these tariffs are in place hurts families, communities, and businesses,” CCC CEO Candace Laing said in an emailed statement.
The CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce said the tariffs will hurt businesses and consumers on both sides of the border.
“It makes no economic sense,” said Daniel Tisch. “Trump isn’t putting America first. He’s more likely to ensure all of North America finishes last.”
6:54 p.m.: When reached by the Star, NDP leader Marit Stiles urged the Canadian provinces to stand together to “levy a smart, tough tariff response.” She claimed Ford, who days earlier called a provincial snap election, had “quit his job on the eve of these tariffs to try and secure himself a third term.”
Ontario Green leader Mike Schneider also criticized Ford’s decision in wake of the tariffs, and floated the creation of a ‘tariff taskforce’ to work across party lines.
The Ontario Liberals have not yet responded to the Star’s request for comment.
6:00 p.m.: NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is calling on the federal government to protect workers as it responds to the incoming tariffs from the U.S.
5:46 p.m.: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she is disappointed by the looming tariffs on Canadian goods, including 10 per cent on Canadian energy.
5:34 p.m.: Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre condemned the “massive, unjust and unjustified tariffs on Canada’s already weak economy” in a press release.
5:24 p.m.: In a statement issued Saturday evening, Ontario PC leader Doug Ford said he was “extremely disappointed” in Trump’s decision to “walk away from a trading relationship that, for decades, has made life better for millions,” and stressed that impacts would be felt on both sides of the border.
Ford said the coming weeks could be “incredibly difficult” for Ontario, estimating the tariffs could put nearly 500,000 jobs across the province at risk and urging the federal government to come back with a “forceful” response that matches the U.S. tariffs “dollar for dollar.”
5:20 p.m.: Federal Liberal Party leadership candidate Mark Carney says the tariffs “are a clear violation of our trade agreements and require the most serious trade and economic responses in our history.”
5:15 p.m.: U.S. President Donald Trump is officially imposing 25 per cent tariffs on almost all Canadian goods and a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian energy products, signing an executive order Saturday that declared the edict will come into effect Tuesday.
Read more from the Star’s politics team.
3:50 p.m.: Unifor, the country’s largest private sector union, says Canada must hit back “hard and fast” as U.S. President Donald Trump declares economic war on Canadian workers.
3:20 p.m.: Government sources say U.S. President Donald Trump will hit Canada with 25 per cent tariffs on Tuesday, while imposing a lower 10 per cent duty on energy imports.
With files from the Canadian Press
