President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs on Canadian goods officially took effect early Saturday morning, after the United States and Canada failed to reach a trade deal, according to senior Trump administration officials.
“Tonight, Canada declined to finalize the trade deal under the terms agreed earlier this week, despite the U.S. offer to Canada to receive the best treatment of any major exporter to our market, new demands and walk backs of other commitments by Canada have upended the careful balance reached in the past days,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement.
“In addition, Canada is continuing to maintain its prolonged retaliation against the United States, including, among other things, flat-out prohibitions on certain American goods and services,” he added.
The new tariffs, targeting dozens of products from hockey sticks to wine, went into effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday.
Both U.S. and Canadian officials blamed the other side for the trade talks falling through.
In an announcement late Friday night, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada was suspending the trade talks with the U.S.
The prime minister said that talks broke down this week after American negotiators made requests that were unfavorable to Canada.
“They asked too much and offered too little,” he said at a Saturday press conference.
“We were not prepared to comprise Canada’s sovereignty or undermine our key industries,” he said at a news conference.
He added, “The new U.S. tariffs are designed to hurt us and divide us. They are a miscalculation, because Canadians will always take care of each other.”
Earlier this week, Trump struck an optimistic tone on the trade talks, saying he had a “very good conversation” with Carney.
