Trump says he'll hit Canadian goods with 25% tariff next week after month-long pause
'The tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule,' U.S. president says
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he will go forward with a 25 per cent tariff on most imports from Canada next week, saying the country has ripped off the U.S. for too long and it's time to put a stop to it.
Speaking to reporters at a White House news conference with the French president, Trump said work to implement those tariffs is "moving along very rapidly."
"The tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule. This is an abuse that took place for many, many years. The tariffs will go forward, yes, and we're going to make up a lot of territory," Trump said.
Earlier this month, Trump threatened to levy a devastating 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods — except energy, which would be levied at 10 per cent — going so far as to draw up an executive order to implement the regime.
Trump ultimately pulled back after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to deploy more resources at the border to tamp down on drugs and migrants crossing into the U.S.
Now, Trump signalled that the pause will be lifted around March 4 as planned despite meaningful improvement at the border with the number of migrants apprehended and the quantity of drugs seized plummeting.
"Our country will be extremely liquid and rich again," Trump said.
Speaking to reporters from London after meeting with British officials, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Canada will hit back at the U.S. if Trump moves ahead with the tariffs.
She said the federal government crafted a plan to slap retaliatory tariffs on up to $155 billion worth of American goods when Trump launched the first salvo in this trade war, and Ottawa can bring that list back if he makes good on his threat.
"We need to stand strong and send a clear message that Canadians will fight back," Joly said.
"The threat of tariffs is a real one and may continue for a while," she said. "We need to be able to deal with the unpredictability of President Trump."
Economists and experts have said tariffs that high have the potential to plunge the Canadian economy into a recession and lead to severe economic disruption for industries across the country.
The tariff will make some Canadian goods less competitive because American importers will have to pay the 25 per cent levy to bring them into the U.S. if Trump's plan goes into effect.
Those added costs could then be passed on to American consumers, pushing up the price of everything from car parts and fertilizer to pharmaceuticals and paper products.
Trump has also threatened additional 25 per cent tariffs for certain industries, including steel, aluminum and auto imports.
The White House has previously said those tariffs — the steel and aluminum levies are set to take effect on March 12 — will be stacked on top of the 25 per cent tariff on Canada.
While Trump spoke Monday about supposedly being ripped off and the potential revenue these tariffs can generate, they were first floated as a way to get Canada and Mexico to do more around border security.
After Trump signalled he would tariff Canadian imports last fall, Ottawa announced a $1.3-billion border package to assuage his concerns.
In an interview with CBC News last week, Kirsten Hillman, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., said illegal migration from Canada into the U.S. has declined by some 90 per cent in recent months — and the president's advisers have been "pleased" with the progress.
With more money and resources, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officials have been seizing drugs at the border, including fentanyl.
Even before these new efforts, Canada represented less than one per cent of all seized fentanyl imports into the U.S., according to federal data.
Still, to satisfy Trump's stated concerns, the federal government appointed a fentanyl czar to lead Canada's efforts to staunch the flow.
In a phone call between Trump and Trudeau on Saturday, the prime minister spoke about the recent border measures.
In a readout, the White House said Trudeau told the president that "Canada has enforced a 90-per-cent reduction in fentanyl crossing the U.S. northern border, and that the Canadian border czar would be in the United States next week."
In the Canadian readout, the Prime Minister's Office said: "The prime minister noted seizures of fentanyl at the border have decreased."
While Trump says he's concerned about Canada's supposedly lax approach to fentanyl and migrants, border data shows Canada has a reason to worry about what's pouring in from the U.S.
A CBC News analysis of border data shows Canada actually seized more drugs coming in last year than what the Americans captured on their side of the 49th parallel.
CBSA officials seized some eight million grams of drugs compared to five million taken by U.S. Custom and Border Protection (CBP) officials last year, government data shows.
Trump said Tuesday "many countries" have "mistreated" the U.S and it's "not just Canada and Mexico."
"We were led, in some cases, by fools," he said.
"I'm not even blaming the other countries that did this. I blame our leadership for allowing this to happen, who can blame them if they made these great deals with the United States, took advantage of the United States on manufacturing, on just about everything, every aspect."
Trump's talk of "abuse" and "deals" could be a reference to the Canada-U.S. trade deficit, which is largely driven by American demand for cheaper Canadian oil.
When oil exports are excluded, the Americans actually have a trade surplus with Canada, according to Canadian government data.
Trump has floated wildly inaccurate figures about just how large that deficit is — even claiming recently it was "$200 billion."
The U.S. government's own data suggests the trade in goods deficit with Canada was $63 billion US as of December 2024.
Trump himself renegotiated the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement (CUSMA) in his first term, calling it at the time "the best trade deal ever made."
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