Canada's retaliatory tariffs on American goods took effect at 12:01 a.m. on September 8, deepening a trade fight between the two neighbors that had largely been frozen for months.
The Canadian Department of Finance confirmed that counter-tariffs of 15, 25 and 50 percent now apply to a list of more than 700 US products worth about US$19.9 billion. Ottawa designed the rates to match, dollar for dollar, the tariffs Washington placed on Canadian goods under Section 338 and Section 232 of US trade law.
Dollar-for-dollar response
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the plan in late August, days after the United States imposed a 50 percent levy on about CA$20 billion of Canadian exports. Carney said Canada could not simply accept the US tariffs and had to answer with its own package.
He described the retaliation as unavoidable. Officials in Ottawa say each product's rate mirrors the US rate on the same goods, so Canadian importers face the same added costs as American importers.
What is covered
The list reaches across the economy. US steel, dairy, electronics, appliances and other manufactured goods now carry added duties when they cross into Canada.
Business groups on both sides of the border warn that the taxes will push up prices for consumers and complicate supply chains that have been integrated for decades. The measures also end the arrangement, reached earlier in the dispute, that had exempted most cross-border trade from tariffs.
No talks planned
There is no obvious off-ramp yet. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said no new negotiations with Canada are scheduled, and Washington has warned it could raise its own tariffs further if Ottawa responds again.
Economists say the longer the standoff lasts, the larger the cost for both economies. Canada sends about three-quarters of its exports to the United States, while the US is Canada's largest supplier of imported goods.