Trudeau to announce Canada’s response to Trump trade war
The North American trade war of 2025 has officially begun with Canada hitting back against the U.S. after President Donald Trump imposed punishing 25 per cent tariffs on virtually all Canadian goods just after midnight.
Trump’s tariffs will upend trade relations between two countries that, for decades, were close partners and friends. The tariffs, which will apply to everything Canada sends south, could lead to job losses, economic devastation, higher inflation and hurt feelings on both sides of the border.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already slapped tariffs on an initial tranche of $30 billion worth of American goods and promised $125 billion more will face levies in three weeks’ time.
In his statement last night announcing Canada’s initial response, Trudeau suggested the federal government is prepared to go beyond counter-tariffs alone to try and get Trump to back down from tariffs that have the potential to plunge not only the Canadian economy into a recession but also inflict economic pain on American businesses and the workers they employ.
“Canada will not let this unjustified decision go unanswered,” Trudeau said in his media statement.
“Our tariffs will remain in place until the U.S. trade action is withdrawn, and should U.S. tariffs not cease, we are in active and ongoing discussions with provinces and territories to pursue several non-tariff measures,” he said.
The premiers are already promising provincial countermeasures of their own, including pulling American liquor off store shelves, hiking road tolls for American commercial drivers and blocking U.S. firms from bidding for government procurement contracts to try and force Trump to reverse course.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said he is prepared to go through with some more draconian measures, including possibly cutting Ontario energy exports that power some 1.5 million customers in the U.S. The province’s energy minister, Stephen Lecce, also floated levying an export charge on every megawatt of power Ontario sells to the U.S.
In an interview with CNN, Ford said Canadians are “absolutely livid,” there’s a swell of Canadian patriotism as shoppers boycott American products and his government will use every tool in the toolbox to hit back against “the one man” who has ruined what was once the best bilateral relationship in the world.
Pointing to the plunging U.S. stock indexes, Ford said he hopes Trump pulls back now that the “market is going to go downhill faster than the American bobsled team.”
Lana Payne, the president of Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, issued an “economic call-to-arms” in what she’s calling “a full-on trade war.”
“Every Canadian politician, business leader, worker and resident must fight back. Trump has seriously misjudged the resolve and unity of Canadians, and he has misjudged how damaging this trade war will be for American workers,” she said.
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.
Some importers may decide to drop certain Canadian products altogether, putting pressure on Canadian businesses and the people they employ.
Industry groups are already warning of dire consequences. Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters said Trump’s tariffs “threaten the future of the most successful economic relationship in the world.” The Canadian Federation of Independent Business called the brewing trade war “a massive economic threat.” The Grain Growers of Canada said the trade war “could push many family farms to the brink.”
Global Automakers of Canada, the industry group that represents 25 carmarkers like BMW and Honda, said Trump has to quickly lift his tariffs “to avoid permanent and significant damage to the North American automotive sector.”
The Business Council of Canada said Trump’s actions have left the trilateral trade deal that he himself negotiated in his first term, the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), in tatters. “No one wins in a trade war and the tariffs imposed today by the Trump administration will hurt workers, farmers and families,” the council said.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Arctic ice shift: Melting multiyear floes trigger decline in vital pressure ridges, CBC News
Norway: Thawing permafrost melts ground under homes and around Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, The Independent Barents Observer
Russia: Atlantification ushering in new era of sea ice loss in the Siberian Arctic, Eye on the Arctic
United States: Blog: Trump’s cuts and US Arctic research, are the risks only just beginning?
