Canada vows to 'match dollar for dollar' after trade talks with America fall apart, US imposes 50 percent tariffs
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Canada vows to 'match dollar for dollar' after trade talks with America fall apart, US imposes 50 percent tariffs")
Representative image. Photograph: (AFP)
The tariffs impact nearly $20 billion worth of the country's imports from Canada. The import taxes will hit across every industry, with tariffs impacting about $20 billion worth of U.S. imports from Canada.
Trade talks between the US and Canada collapsed on Friday, resulting in the development of steep tariffs of up to 50 per cent on a wide range of Canadian goods. After days of talks, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney declared that while important progress had been made, “that progress has not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians.”
“As a result, this evening, I have decided to suspend trade negotiations with the U.S. and have directed Canada’s negotiators to return to Ottawa,” Carney said. According to the US Trade Representative’s office, the tariffs impact nearly $20 billion worth of the country's imports from Canada. The import taxes will hit across every industry, with tariffs impacting about $20 billion worth of U.S. imports from Canada.
Carney stated that Canada will quickly retaliate against the US, saying, “Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses." The development followed after American and Canadian trade negotiators came after nearly two weeks of furious talks.
Both sides appear hopeful
Until the very end, both sides seemed hopeful a deal was within reach. On Thursday, Canada's point person on U.S. trade, Dominic LeBlanc, spent several hours in talks with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Leaving Greer's office that night, LeBlanc told reporters the two sides were nearly there and would keep working until they closed the gap. “We’re very close, we continue to make progress, and we’re going to stay here and do the work that is necessary until we get to that point,” Dominic LeBlanc told reporters as he left Greer’s office late Thursday.
Negotiators reconvened Friday, with discussions dragging on late into the evening, officials were still at the USTR's office past 10:30 p.m. ET. In the end, though, no agreement was reached. Prime Minister Carney said in a statement that last-minute shifts in what the U.S. was proposing were unreasonable and economically unsound, and that they raised doubts about whether any deal reached could actually be trusted to hold. “We have recognised from the beginning that America has changed, and that we will not return to our old relationship,” Carney said. “Canada has what the world wants. And we will not allow any nation to determine our future.”
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Neither the White House nor the USTR's office responded right away to requests for comment. Carney had also been facing pressure at home during the week's negotiations, with some provincial premiers pushing back. Manitoba's Wab Kinew, for instance, argued Ottawa should take a harder line against Trump rather than negotiate. One especially contentious issue was Carney's ask that provinces drop their bans on selling American alcohol.
