Canada has retaliated against US President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs by imposing duties on around $20 billion worth of US goods on Tuesday.
The outcome could resonate far beyond Canada, showing other governments whether a smaller US ally can withstand Trump’s economic pressure.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says US demands could hollow out key Canadian industries and limit the country’s independence, while Trump’s threats to Canadian sovereignty have rallied the public behind him.
“Carney and Canada have become symbolic of resistance to him,” Canadian historian Robert Bothwell said. “And 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.”
The tariffs hit hundreds of American products, including steel, aluminum, cheese, appliances, clothing, cosmetics and farm equipment, at rates of 15 per cent, 25 per cent or 50 per cent.
Canada retaliates with tariffs on hundreds of US products
Canada says its tariffs match Washington’s dollar for dollar and rate for rate. They take effect at 12:01am. Tuesday under an executive action known as an order in council and cover about $20 billion in American goods, roughly 6 per cent of the $333.6 billion the United States exported to Canada last year.
RBC Economics, the research arm of the Royal Bank of Canada, said the measures were unlikely to dent US growth overall but could hit some businesses hard.
Canada has already gone beyond tariffs in other ways. Eight of its 10 provinces continue to restrict or ban sales of US alcohol. The Distilled Spirits Council says US spirits exports to Canada fell more than 70 per cent year over year after those restrictions took effect.
