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Of particular irritation to the Trump administration have been the provinces, including Ontario, which removed U.S. liquor from store shelves.Laura Proctor/The Canadian Press
U.S. President Donald Trump is escalating his trade war against Canada, imposing 50-per-cent tariffs on a wide range of goods to hit back at Ottawa for retaliating against his previous tariffs.
In a surprise move on Monday, Mr. Trump signed three proclamations invoking Section 338 of the Depression-era Tariff Act to impose the levies on Canadian alcohol, dairy products, hockey sticks, cement, and hundreds of other exports.
The tariffs will take effect on Aug. 19 and will not include an exemption for goods trading under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, significantly broadening the economic damage Mr. Trump has been trying to inflict on one of his country’s closest allies and trading partners since he returned to office last year.
In a statement, the White House complained that Canada has fought back against Mr. Trump’s trade war. Other countries and trading blocs, including the United Kingdom, Japan and the European Union, agreed to accept punitive U.S. trade measures in exchange for Mr. Trump not making their tariffs even higher.
“Over the past year and a half, only two countries have chosen to retaliate against President Trump’s tariffs rather than negotiate a deal with the United States: the People’s Republic of China and Canada,” the statement said.
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The new tariffs will not apply to Canadian oil, gas, potash, fish or critical minerals, even though oil and gas is the main source of the U.S.’s goods trade deficit with Canada, which Mr. Trump has said he wants to eliminate.
The President last year imposed hefty tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos, which disproportionately hit Canada because of the two countries’ integrated economies. Canada is also subject to Mr. Trump’s global baseline tariff but, until now, most goods were exempted so long as they complied with the USMCA.
Of particular irritation to the Trump administration have been the provinces, including Ontario, that have taken U.S. alcohol off store shelves in response to the tariffs. One of Mr. Trump’s orders Monday hits back by tariffing Canadian beer, wine, whisky, and numerous other alcoholic products, including plum wine. Imported cocktail ingredients will also be subject to the levy.
Another order targets milk, whey and lactose in response to Canada’s supply management system, which limits dairy imports from the U.S. and other countries. In the order, the Trump administration complains that Canada allows in more dairy under its trade deal with Europe than it does from the U.S. Mr. Trump signed off on the current system when he negotiated the USMCA in his first term.
In response to Canada’s retaliation against U.S. auto tariffs, the Trump administration will tariff a range of other products, including honey, down for stuffing pillows, bedsheets, horsehair, flower bulbs and “mosses and lichens.”
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Prime Minister Mark Carney tried last year to negotiate down Mr. Trump’s tariffs. He also made several concessions, including cancelling a planned digital services tax, reducing retaliatory tariffs, and complying with the President’s demands for stepped up military spending and border security.
But Mr. Trump abruptly ended talks in October after Ontario aired an anti-tariff ad in the U.S. The two sides began talking again this spring but there have been few signs of progress.
Earlier this month, the U.S. opted not to renew the USMCA, triggering a period of annual reviews set to last a decade. The U.S. has started talks with Mexico to review the deal but has so far not negotiated with Canada.
Last week, the President seized on smoke from Canadian forest fires as another reason to impose tariffs. On Sunday, he told reporters that he had confronted Mr. Carney on the issue while they attended the World Cup final in New Jersey together.
“I told him, I mean, ‘You’ve got to stop these fires from coming in and poisoning our air, our air’s been poisoned,’” Mr. Trump said. “Maybe they should pay us some damages or something or we should do some tariffs.”
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On Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford urged Mr. Carney to retaliate against Mr. Trump’s latest tariffs. “I’ll never stop fighting to protect Ontario. If these tariffs proceed, Canada should respond tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar,” he said in a post on X.
Mr. Ford has continually rejected calls from the Trump administration to return U.S. alcohol to LCBO shelves, saying he would only do that when Mr. Trump lifts his tariffs.
Quebec Premier Chrstine Fréchette wrote on X that “any weakening of supply management is non-negotiable” and her government would defend it “without compromise.”
“The Trump administration’s new tariff threats are unjustified and concerning,” she wrote. “It’s the worst time to add a layer of instability to the Quebec economy, when our businesses need predictability.”
With reports from Nathan VanderKlippe in Vancouver, Laura Stone in Toronto and Maura Forrest in Montreal