Canada announces ‘dollar-for-dollar’ retaliatory tariffs on US as high as 50%

The White House released a statement after Canada announced its counter-tariffs, saying that the US was prepared to offer Canada “the most preferential market access of any country on Earth” in recent trade talks.

“Instead of partnership, Canada chose unreasonable demands, walk-backs, and flat-out rejection,” it said.

In a series of Tuesday posts on Truth Social, Trump also accused Canada of “ripping off” the US for decades and of charging American farmers steep tariffs.

“I deal with many countries, and Canada is easily the most difficult and unreasonable,” Trump wrote. “They feel entitled, but they are not a State, and will be entitled no longer!”

He suggested that he will change the name of Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes on the US-Canada border, to Lake America, writing: “We don’t expect to doing much business with Ontario any longer.”

Trump threatened this week to hike US tariffs on Canadian automobiles to 50% as of 1 January.

Prime Minister Mark Carney responded by accusing Trump of wanting to “destroy” Canadian industries including the automobile manufacturing and steel and aluminum sectors.

Public rhetoric on both sides reached a fever pitch on Monday, but some officials struck a more diplomatic tone on Tuesday with hopes that talks could be resumed.

After calling Trump a “loser” on Monday at a news conference, Ontario Premier Doug Ford acknowledged in an interview with CNN that “things got a little heated”.

“But I want to make a deal — a good deal for the American people, a good deal for Canadians,” Ford said.

The escalation also puts into question the future of a North American free trade pact between Canada, the US and Mexico called the USMCA.

President Claudia Sheinbaum had despatched her economy secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, to Washington for emergency talks after trade negotiations collapsed with Canada.