Canada hits U.S. with tariffs on $29.8B worth of goods after Trump slaps levy on metals
Trump put a 25% tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum earlier this morning
The federal government announced a plan on Wednesday to slap tariffs on $29.8 billion worth of American goods to hit back against U.S. President Donald Trump after he imposed punishing tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum early this morning.
Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, the government's point person on Canada-U.S. relations, said Trump's attack on Canadian industry is "unjustified and unjustifiable" and the government must retaliate as the U.S. inserts "disruption and disorder" into what was once one of the most successful trading relationships in the world.
"We will not stand idly by while our iconic steel and aluminum industries are being unfairly targeted," he said.
LeBlanc said the American products being hit with these tariffs include U.S.-made steel and aluminum, computers, sports equipment and certain cast iron products, among others.
Trump's tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, which took effect just after midnight, are separate from the other tariffs Trump levied on Canada last week — and later partially dialled back — to supposedly pressure the country to do more at the border on drugs and migrants.
Canada immediately levied tariffs on $30 billion worth of American goods in response to those initial tariffs — and didn't take them off even after Trump rejigged his tariff regime.
All told, Canada is applying a 25 per cent tariff to some $60 billion worth of American goods as payback for both Trump's border- and metals-related tariffs.
The government is also holding back tariffs on another roughly $100 billion worth of American goods that will be imposed if Trump goes ahead with a third round of what he's calling "reciprocal" tariffs on goods from around the world on April 2.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Trump has claimed he needs to impose tariffs now because Canadian steel and aluminum imports pose a "national security threat" — something she called a bogus and insulting justification.
"The excuse for these tariffs shift every day. The only constant seems to be President Trump's talks of annexing our country through economic coercion. We will not back down and we will not give in to this coercion," she said. "We need to fight back against this nonsense."
Trump deployed harsh rhetoric against Canada on Tuesday, threatening to ruin the country economically and reiterating his desire to see the country become the 51st state.
The U.S. president upped the ante on his annexation taunts, saying the only way for Canada to avoid his attempts to torpedo the economy is for the country to "become our cherished Fifty-First State."
Trump said the border between Canada and the U.S., which was first set centuries ago after the American Revolutionary War and reaffirmed by a series of treaties in the years to follow, is "an artificial line of separation" that he wants to see disappear.
Joly said Canada is not just in a fight to get Trump to back off tariffs but also to save the country from a possible takeover.
"It's not just a threat to Canadian jobs, Canadian families. It is an existential threat to our country," she said. "This is not only a fight about the economy, it is about the future of our country."
Canada leading supplier of steel, aluminum
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Trump's tariffs will push up the price of virtually everything U.S. factories produce, given just how dependent they are on Canadian metals. The U.S., for example, produces only 16 per cent of the aluminum it needs, while 60 per cent of its supply comes from Quebec alone.
But these tariffs also pose a major concern for Canada, given the last time Trump imposed similar tariffs on those metals there was a huge drop in Canadian exports, threatening jobs and businesses.
According to Statistics Canada data, aluminum exports dropped by roughly half in 2019 as a result of Trump's trade action in his first term.
Matt Walker, the president of the Canada Metal Processing Group, which produce steel products, said his company has had to lay off workers in Ontario and Quebec "due to the constant threat of United States tariffs."
"This tariff will not only harm Canadian businesses and workers but will hurt the many American businesses, workers and consumers that rely on high-quality Canadian steel, which the U.S. does not supply or produce sufficiently itself," Walker said.
Andrew DiCapua, principal economist at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said the metals tariffs are dealing the Canadian economy "another large hit."
A spokesperson for the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, said Trump's tariffs on Canada "will add significant costs for automakers, suppliers and consumers."
Champagne said Trump's relentless trade attacks likely aren't going away anytime soon and Canada needs an attitude shift to become more independent and resilient.
Canadian officials, including LeBlanc and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, will meet with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Trump's tariff czar, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington on Thursday.
LeBlanc said those talks will be about trying to get the Americans to drop all their existing tariffs and convince the administration to spare Canada when it pushes ahead with more tariffs on April 2.
"We will continue to maintain our countermeasures and increase them on April 2 if we can't get to a position where their initial measures are all lifted from Canadian businesses," LeBlanc said.
Thursday's meeting is also a chance to "lower the temperature" given the heated rhetoric coming from Trump in recent days, LeBlanc said.
- CBC Radio's Just Asking wants to know: Which claims about the trade war do you want fact-checked? Fill out the details on this form and send us your questions ahead of our show this Saturday, March 15, 2025.
LeBlanc said Trump has made some "outrageous comments" about Canadian sovereignty and they need to be addressed with his officials face-to-face.
Joly added Canada will continue to exert "maximum pressure" on the Americans through countermeasures while also being open to offering "off-ramps" to Trump to bring this trade war to a satisfying close for both sides.
Joly said she will also be holding talks about the tariffs with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio when she hosts a G7 foreign ministers' meeting at Charlevoix, Que., on Thursday and Friday in advance of a leaders' summit in Alberta in June.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his trip to Quebec, Rubio said this is "not a meeting about how we're going to take over Canada."
Pressed to say if he agrees with Trump's assertion that Canada should become the 51st state, Rubio demurred. "That's not what we're going to be discussing in our trip here," he said.
As for what Canadian officials will say if the 51st state taunts are raised, Joly said that talk is offensive and will be dismissed outright.
"When it comes to Canadian sovereignty, it's very simple: it's not even on the table," she said.
Prime minister-designate Mark Carney, who is expected to take the reins of power after being sworn in sometime later this week, said he's ready to sit down with Trump soon to discuss a resolution. But he said those talks can only happen "under a position where there's respect for Canadian sovereignty."
"We're all going to be better off when the greatest economic and security partnership in the world is renewed and is relaunched," Carney said
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