Canada will impose tariffs of 50%, 25%, and 15% on about 700 American products beginning Sept. 8, answering the U.S. tariffs that took effect Saturday after trade talks collapsed, the New York Times reports. The largest measure doubles the tariff on American steel and aluminum to 50%; the rest run from household aluminum foil to dishwashers, smartphones, and fish. It covers roughly $20 billion a year of imports, the same value as the Canadian exports Washington has hit.
Ottawa acknowledges the cost. Prime Minister Mark Carney said the retaliation “will raise costs and reduce choice for Canadians,” and officials expect to spend more supporting exporters than they collect in tariffs. Canada’s economy is about one-twelfth the size of America’s.
Consider what neither side is taxing. Trump’s tariffs have never touched Canadian oil, natural gas, potash, or most minerals, because the United States needs them. Canada has not taxed its exports of them either—though economists say that is the measure that would actually reach the American economy, and polls show Canadians favor it over import tariffs.
“This is a game of cards,” Trade Minister Mélanie Joly said in French. “We know we have a lot of good cards in our hand. And we know not to use them right at the start.”
One of those cards is potash. Canada is the world’s largest producer, and most of it goes to American farmers—in a year when the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has already broken the global fertilizer trade.
