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U.S. President Donald Trump says 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, with a lower 10 per cent levy on Canadian energy, will start Tuesday.
Trump says there’s no room left for America’s closest neighbours to negotiate a way out of the devastating duties.
The president says both counties would have to build car plants and “other things” in the United States to get the levies removed.
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Trump’s executive order to implement economywide tariffs was delayed until Tuesday after Canada and Mexico agreed to introduce new security measures at the border.
The order initially tied the tariffs to the illegal flow of people and drugs across the borders — but Trump previously said the delay would allow time for an “economic” deal.
It remains unclear what the president wants to see from Canada in exchange for dropping the tariff threat for good.
‘We will have no choice but to defend Saskatchewan’
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said in a statement on Monday afternoon that the province has been working with the federal government and other provinces on a coordinated national response should the U.S. tariffs go ahead.
“We are also considering our province’s response,” Moe said in the statement.
“We remain committed to free and fair trade between Canada and the U.S., but should the U.S. proceed with an ill-conceived tariffs policy, we will have no choice but to defend Saskatchewan industries and families.”
Moe was in Washington D.C. twice in February, leading a delegation of business leaders in an effort to highlight the importance of cross-border trade.
“No one wins with the imposition of tariffs,” he told reporters in Saskatoon on Friday.
“The very first impacts will be observed by an American family that’s filling up their vehicle at the pumps,” he said.
He said the second impact will be felt in U.S. grocery stores and thirdly U.S. egg producers, with the jump in potash fertilizer.
“Ninety per cent of potash that is used by American farmers comes from the province of Saskatchewan,” Moe said.
This is why being in the US to tell the Saskatchewan story is important. We need free and fair trade that benefits farmers, businesses and everyone on both sides of the border. https://t.co/R9DInJMGIP
— Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) March 3, 2025
He told reporters on Friday that “energy dominance” is the goal of the U.S.
“One in 17 homes in the U.S. is powered by Saskatchewan uranium.”
The proposal of broad-based tariffs on March 4 would be followed on March 12 with steel and aluminum tariffs.
Moe said job losses would accompany the March 12 tariffs as industries will reposition themselves in both countries.
“Our steel and aluminum industry in Canada is very, very sensitive to a tariff like this on southbound products.”
President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the Trump International Golf Club, in West Palm Beach, Fla., on March 2, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Alex Brandon)
Immediate impacts won’t be felt in Canada, analyst says
980 CJME and 650 CKOM business analyst Paul Martin said Canadians wouldn’t feel the effects of tariffs on Wednesday but would feel them at some point in the near future.
“Initially the impacts will be felt on the U.S. side,” he said. “It’s imports from Canada to the U.S. that will be subject to these tariffs.”
Martin said Canadians won’t feel any impacts unless reciprocal tariffs come into effect.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said if the U.S. tariffs come into effect, Ottawa will reinstate its previously announced plan for retaliatory tariffs set to begin with an initial 25 per cent levy on $30 billion in U.S. goods, with duties on another $125 billion worth of goods three weeks later.
“We will then be on the other side of that coin,” Martin said.
Martin said it feels like Canada was given almost no choice but to retaliate.
“This is a two way street — Canada and the U.S. are one of the biggest trading relationships in the world,” Martin said. “So if one side wants to escalate, the other side probably has to (retaliate).”
Martin said a big wild card in the trade war is what will happen in the automotive industry.
“Certainly Canada will feel that, with parts of cars going back and forth multiple times.”
Last time tariffs were announced the Canadian dollar took a bit of a hit, and Martin said we could see that again.
“How much farther down it can go is hard to say,” said Martin. “We’ve seemed to have found the floor at around 68 to 69 cents, but we’ve been below that before.”
On Monday the Canadian dollar was at 69 cents against the U.S dollar.
Canada complaints range from trade deficits to defence spending
Canadian officials have made repeated trips to Washington in recent weeks and said they received positive feedback about Canada’s actions on the border from Republican lawmakers and members of Trump’s team. But it remains unclear what Trump ultimately wants in exchange for dropping his tariffs threat for good.
“That’s the ironic thing, no one down here knows what he wants,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said at the National Governors Association winter meeting in Washington last month.
Trump’s complaints directed at Canada range from trade deficits to defence spending. He repeatedly claimed he wanted to make Canada a U.S. state.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg TV Friday that Mexico has proposed matching Washington’s tariffs on China.
“I think it would be a nice gesture if the Canadians did it also, so in a way we could have ‘Fortress North America’ from the flood of Chinese imports,” he said, leaving the door open about areas of negotiation.
Many Canadian officials have said that Trump’s ongoing tariff threats are tied to a mandatory review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement. The continental trade pact was negotiated under the first Trump administration to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement.
— with files by Kelly Geraldine Malone and CKOM News
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