The Trump administration said Monday that it will impose an additional 50 percent tariff on about $20 billion in Canadian goods, escalating a trade dispute that has simmered between the neighboring countries since the beginning of the president’s term.
The new rate, scheduled to take effect next month, will mainly affect the Canadian auto, alcohol, and dairy industries. The White House framed the tariffs as a response to Canadian discrimination against American producers through provincial restrictions targeting those same industries.
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The duties will apply even to goods that qualify for tariff-free treatment under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which President Donald Trump has separately said the U.S. will not renew. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney accused the United States of violating the terms of the USMCA and said he was considering “all options.”
The legal authority cited for the move is Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which allows the president to implement tariffs of up to 50 percent on countries imposing an “unreasonable charge, exaction, regulation, or limitation” upon U.S. goods in a discriminatory fashion.
Trump has also threatened tariffs on Canada in response to smoke from the country’s wildfires drifting into the U.S. An official told Axios that those remain under consideration, and if imposed would be in addition to the tariffs announced Monday.
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