The North American trade war of 2025 has officially begun with Canada hitting back against the U.S. after President Donald Trump imposed punishing 25 per cent tariffs on virtually all Canadian goods just after midnight.
Trump’s tariffs will upend trade relations between two countries that, for decades, were close partners and friends. The tariffs, which will apply to everything Canada sends south, could lead to job losses, economic devastation, higher inflation and hurt feelings on both sides of the border.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already slapped tariffs on an initial tranche of $30 billion worth of American goods and promised $125 billion more will face levies in three weeks’ time.
Trudeau will make a speech at 10:30 a.m. ET about what else the federal government has planned to fight back against Trump’s efforts to try and torpedo the Canadian economy.
In his statement last night announcing Canada’s initial response, Trudeau suggested the federal government is prepared to go beyond counter-tariffs alone to try and get Trump to back down from tariffs that have the potential to plunge not only the Canadian economy into a recession but also inflict economic pain on American businesses and the workers they employ.
“Canada will not let this unjustified decision go unanswered,” Trudeau said in his media statement.
“Our tariffs will remain in place until the U.S. trade action is withdrawn, and should U.S. tariffs not cease, we are in active and ongoing discussions with provinces and territories to pursue several non-tariff measures,” he said.
The premiers are already promising provincial countermeasures of their own, including pulling American liquor off store shelves, hiking road tolls for American commercial drivers and blocking U.S. firms from bidding for government procurement contracts to try and force Trump to reverse course.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said he is prepared to go through with some more draconian measures, including possibly cutting Ontario energy exports that power some 1.5 million customers in the U.S. The province’s energy minister, Stephen Lecce, also floated levying an export charge on every megawatt of power Ontario sells to the U.S.
Lana Payne, the president of Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, issued an “economic call-to-arms” in what she’s calling “a full-on trade war.”
“Every Canadian politician, business leader, worker and resident must fight back. Trump has seriously misjudged the resolve and unity of Canadians, and he has misjudged how damaging this trade war will be for American workers,” she said.
