Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the suspension of trade negotiations with Washington, and in response, a US official confirmed that tariffs of 50% on Canadian imports would come into effect at midnight.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stated that he has suspended trade negotiations and that his country will respond in kind to the new tariffs.
In a statement, Carney confirmed that his country "has decided to suspend trade negotiations with the United States and has directed Canadian negotiators to return to Ottawa."
He added, "The negotiators made diligent efforts, in good faith, to defend the interests of Canadians throughout these negotiations until the very last moment. However, the last-minute changes to the terms proposed by the United States were unfair and uneconomical, and raised doubts about the credibility of any agreement."
A senior official in US President Donald Trump's administration stated that tariffs under Section 338 on approximately $20 billion worth of Canadian goods will take effect at midnight on Saturday.
The US administration's decision came after three consecutive days of talks in Washington between Canada's Minister for Trade with the United States, Dominic LeBlanc, and US Trade Representative Jamison Greer.
While the new measures affect a relatively small portion of Canadian exports, they are in addition to existing U.S. tariffs on steel, lumber, and automobiles.
These new tariffs could hinder Canada's fragile economic recovery and affect how the two neighboring countries handle broader negotiations on a free trade agreement in the coming months.
These duties apply regardless of whether Canadian goods qualify for preferential treatment under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which protected much of the Canadian industry from previous U.S. tariffs.
