Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on a range of American imports took effect on Tuesday, with no sign of a trade deal between Ottawa and Washington.
The counter-tariffs will apply to nearly C$28bn (£20bn; $15bn) worth of US goods, including items from steel and furniture to cotton T-shirts. Tariffs will reach as high as 50%, affecting hundreds of products coming from the United States from midnight on Tuesday, as Canada seeks “dollar-for-dollar” responses to the latest US measures.
Counter-Tariffs Apply to US Goods
Among the listed imports were fresh fish and lobster. However, Canada later dropped those items after pushback from its seafood industry, underlining the balance it is trying to strike while responding to its largest trading partner.
Both sides have said they want to reach an agreement, but talks have made no progress since they collapsed in late August.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said last week that Canada is still looking for a “durable” deal that serves both countries’ interests.
“We’re ready to sit down and and strike that deal when the Americans are ready,” he told reporters.
US Says Deal Offer Was Rejected
The US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, said on Thursday that responsibility for moving matters forward lay with Canada.
Greer said in an interview with Fox News that the US had put forward what it described as the best deal, adding that Canada “looked at it square in the face and turned around”. In the same interview, he said communications with Canadian counterparts had been limited since the talks broke down.
In an interview with Canadian broadcaster CBC, Greer also cautioned against further retaliation and suggested the US could respond by banning imports of some Canadian products.
His warning comes as President Donald Trump escalated pressure beyond tariffs. On Monday, Trump threatened to halt all US business with Bombardier, the Canada-based aircraft maker, unless it moved manufacturing to the US.
Bombardier is among the country’s largest companies, contributing more than C$7bn to Canada’s annual GDP in 2024, according to a report commissioned by the company and prepared by PwC.
Trump also posted criticism of Canada on Truth Social over the weekend, including a claim that Canada’s exchange rate with the US was “unacceptable”, and a map of North America showing Canada and Mexico, alongside Greenland, under a US flag.
Canada and the US run the world’s largest bilateral trading relationship, worth nearly $900bn in 2025.
Broader Tariff Measures and Economic Concerns
Tuesday’s Canadian counter-tariffs come on top of existing retaliatory taxes that Ottawa has already applied to finished US cars and trucks that do not meet terms under the USMCA trade pact—called USMCA in the US and CUSMA in Canada.
On the US side, Washington has an existing 25% duty on Canadian cars and trucks, along with taxes on Canadian steel, aluminium and lumber. In late August, Trump also imposed new 50% tariffs on additional goods including dairy, alcohol, hockey sticks and perfume.
While polls suggest many Canadians support retaliation, economists have warned that the new counter-tariffs could feed through to prices for everyday items such as clothing, food and furniture.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce urged a “surgical” approach, warning against endless escalation. Its chief executive, Candace Laing, told the BBC that businesses understood retaliation but did not want a prolonged spiral, while adding that firms were preparing for the dispute to last.
In fisheries, the need to avoid unintended damage to Canada’s own economy contributed to the removal of dozens of seafood items from the counter-tariff list. The lobster sector in both countries is closely linked, with American-caught lobster frequently sent north to be processed before being shipped back to the US for sale.
Ahead of the latest tariff wave, Canada showed some resilience. GDP grew 3.3% in the second quarter, and Canada added 181,000 jobs between April and July, although around 41,000 jobs were lost in August—a period that coincided with new US tariffs and the collapse of talks.
Canada’s government attributed a modest rise in manufacturing to consumers and businesses buying more domestically produced goods. Carney has also said Canada will diversify trade away from the US, with July data showing the share of exports bound for the US falling to 66% from an average of 75% before the trade war.
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8 September 2026
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