Canadian PM Carney Vows ‘Dollar-For-Dollar’ Tariffs On US

OTTAWA- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, in a nationally televised address, announced that Canada’s “dollar-for-dollar” retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion worth of American goods will take effect on September 8, following the breakdown of trade talks with the United States.

The counter-tariffs will cover a wide range of sectors, including dairy, steel, appliances, pulp and paper, and electronics, Carney said.

The United States and Canada failed to reach a trade deal on August 21, and the United States imposed a 50 per cent tariff on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods on August 22.

Carney said that while both sides were close to a mutually beneficial agreement earlier this week, the US side introduced last-minute changes that were “unfair, uneconomic and called into question the reliability of any deal.”

He warned that the US side’s repeated disregard for existing free trade agreements, including the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), sends a bad signal to international businesses and is “certainly not good news” for renewing the agreement in the future.

The dispute comes as the United States, Mexico and Canada seek to renew CUSMA, the trilateral trade pact that replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement on July 1, 2020. The agreement was negotiated by US President Donald Trump during his first term and was once praised by him as a triumph.

The United States has begun formal talks with Mexico to revamp CUSMA, but talks with Canada have not yet begun. On July 1, 2026, the United States officially declined to renew the agreement for another 16-year term, triggering an annual review process until the pact expires in 2036.

Asked why Canada was entering a trade dispute with the United States, Carney stated flatly: “Because we were attacked.”

The Canadian Prime Minister reiterated his confidence in Canada’s economic resilience, saying the country is creating jobs at four times the rate of the United States, while foreign direct investment has reached a 20-year high.

“Canada is becoming stronger and less dependent on America,” he said. (IANS)