US Hits Canada With New 50% Tariff As Trade War Escalates

(Donald Trump. Photo Credit; BBC)

The United States has escalated a trade spat with one of its biggest trading partners by announcing a new 50% duty on a wide variety of Canadian imports.

The duties, according to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, would affect imports from Canada totaling roughly $20 billion, including goods like cement, wine, and hockey sticks.

Thirty days after U.S. President Donald Trump issues the proclamation, the tariffs are scheduled to go into effect on August 19.

The White House said the move was a response to what it described as Canada’s discriminatory, unequal and unreasonable tariff scheme, and was intended to improve conditions for the export of U.S.-made automobiles.

The development marks the latest escalation in a long-running trade dispute between the two neighbouring countries.

Trump has repeatedly accused Canada, along with several other trading partners, of maintaining unfair trade relationships with the United States, making tariffs a central pillar of his second-term trade agenda.

Canada, on its part, maintains that the tariffs violate the countries’ free trade agreement.

The announcement comes after the U.S. Supreme Court barred Trump from using emergency powers to impose broad tariffs on imports from multiple countries, forcing his administration to pursue alternative legal routes.

Trump had also previously threatened tariffs that were ultimately never implemented.

Reacting to the announcement, Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, said in a statement online that Canada remains ready to engage intensively with the U.S. to resolve outstanding issues for the mutual benefit of citizens on both sides, adding that Canada would take the necessary steps to strengthen its economy at home.

Earlier, Trump had threatened Canada with higher tariffs over smoke from wildfires that drifted into the north-eastern United States, arguing that the resulting air pollution had imposed costs on the country that should be factored into existing tariffs on Canadian imports.