Trump Announces 50% Tariff on Canadian Cars, Steel

The new levies follow an earlier 50% tariff Washington placed on roughly $20bn of Canadian exports, a list from hockey sticks to tongue depressors. Jamieson Greer, the United States Trade Representative, said Canada had walked back commitments agreed days earlier, and that the measures protected American workers and supply chains. Carney rejected that account, saying Washington "asked too much and offered too little" and accusing it of using economic integration as a weapon. The mechanics are clearest in a single vehicle. From January, a car built in Ontario, the heart of Canada's motor industry, and shipped to an American dealer will meet a 50% charge at the border. The importer pays it, not the Canadian factory, and the cost usually reaches the buyer. Carney asked what message that sent to autoworkers in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Alabama, noting that Canada buys more American cars than the European Union, Japan and Korea combined.

Ottawa's countermeasures target steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, electronics, and pulp and paper. Energy is excluded for now, though Ontario Premier Doug Ford said an energy surcharge remained "on the table" — a pointed threat, since Canada supplies most American natural gas and electricity imports and roughly 60% of its crude oil imports. Government action has already bitten: bans on American alcohol in most provincial liquor stores cut wine exports to Canada by 78%, a loss of about $357m. The Yale Budget Lab calculates that under current law Trump's global tariffs will cost American households about $1,100 a year. A weekend poll found 76% of Canadians supported walking away, even as midterm elections loom in Michigan and Maine.