Washington and Ottawa failed to reach a trade agreement this week, with the United States now set to impose 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian imports under Section 338, targeting goods worth around $20 billion.
The duties will take effect from midnight Saturday, according to a senior Trump administration official cited by Reuters. Critically, the new tariffs will apply independently of existing exemptions under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a move that signals a sharper break from the established trade framework between the two neighbours.
The breakdown follows three days of talks in Washington between US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Canada’s Minister for US Trade Relations, Dominic LeBlanc. The Canadian side described last-minute changes proposed by the American negotiating team as “unjust,” a characterisation that ultimately ended the talks.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the suspension of the negotiations and instructed his team to return to Ottawa, warning of a matching Canadian response to the American measures.
