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OTTAWA — Ottawa’s retaliatory tariffs on American goods took effect just after midnight EDT on Tuesday, responding to the 50 per cent tariffs Washington hit Canada with last month.
On Aug. 22, U.S. President Donald Trump launched tariffs on nearly $28 billion of Canadian goods, from hockey sticks and cement to honey, after trade talks broke down between the two nations.
Canada’s reciprocal tariffs target the same value of U.S. goods, all drawn from the list of products being tariffed by the United States. That includes dairy products, plywood and sunscreen.
The latest tariff war was spurred after negotiations to solve some outstanding trade irritants on both sides of the border fell apart, and each side blamed the other for last-minute demands.
“We couldn’t accept what they offered. We wouldn’t give what they’d asked. As a result, the U.S. has imposed new tariffs designed to hurt and divide us,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said last week.
“Now, that’s a miscalculation because Canadians will always take care of each other. And it’s a miscalculation because we have everything we need to build the country we want. We have the reserves, we have the resilience, and we have the right plan.”
In the hours before the new Canadian tariffs were implemented, Trump took to social media with new anti-Canada rants, including an AI-generated cartoon showing him as a hockey player, whacking his stick at Carney and yelling “get up governor” at him.
Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to make Canada the 51st state, and refers to both Carney and his predecessor, former prime minister Justin Trudeau, as governor.
Trump on Monday also threatened to block Quebec’s Bombardier from selling in the United States unless it built its aircraft there. In a lengthy statement, the company refuted the suggestion that it doesn’t currently do so, listing thousands of jobs at more than 20 locations across the United States.
Canada’s counter tariffs include a 50 per cent tariff on a variety of American dairy products such as milk and cream, and a 25 per cent tariff on fresh cheese and curd. Canada is also targeting U.S. wood products with 25 per cent tariffs on softwood, including pine, fir and spruce.
Multiple steel and aluminum products are also being hit with a 50 per cent tariff, up from the current 25 per cent rate. They include steel rods, bars and sheets, along with prefabricated items such as bridges, towers, scaffolding, and door and window frames.
Some beauty products and makeup are now subject to 50 per cent tariffs, including perfumes, sunscreen and suntan products, lip and eye makeup, manicure and pedicure preparations, and hair products.
Carney travelled to Thunder Bay, Ont., last week to announce another multi-billion manufacturing contract, this time to build passenger cars for Via Rail. He said Canada used to get the cars from the United States, but that they’ll now be built by Alstom in Thunder Bay.
In a Labour Day statement, Carney said Canada’s effort to build more at home and diversify its trading partners was working.
“Today, in the face of a global rupture, Canada is building big again: new ports, mines, and energy corridors; millions more affordable homes; new roads, railways, and airports. And we are building it all in solidarity with Canadian workers,” Carney said.
Robert Bothwell, a historian and professor at the University of Toronto, said Carney and Canada have become symbolic of resistance to Trump.
“What he’ll want to do is make an example of Carney and Canada and theoretically terrify everybody else while in fact showing them that they need to remove themselves even further from the United States,” he said.
Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called Monday for more transparency from Carney, saying Canadians deserve to know the economic impact counter tariffs would have on businesses and individuals.
“All Canadians stand united in denouncing the president’s unacceptable tweets, trolling and tariffs, and we have to stand united for its workers and all of our people,” Poilievre told a news conference in Regina.
“The Canadian people deserve the facts and a plan — we need to have both of those things from the prime minister, and so far, we’ve had neither.”
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has warned that small businesses could close due to the trade war despite Ottawa’s announced supports.
Meanwhile, as Carney gets set to address the European Parliament next week, experts like Daniel Béland say his remarks may have global appeal.
“The Canadian public is behind the Carney government and the world is watching what will happen next,” said Béland, a political scientist at McGill University.
He said if Canada’s defiant approach succeeds, it could be “a template” for the world in regard to resisting the Trump administration’s trade policies.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2026.
— With files from The Associated Press
The Canadian Press staff
