Canada hits US with counter-tariffs on more than 700 products

Canada has announced retaliatory tariffs against the United States as the trade war between Washington and Ottawa escalates, impacting hundreds of products. Qatar based media Al Jazeera reported.

On Tuesday, the Canadian government said it would impose tariffs on 27.6 billion Canadian dollars, or $19.9bn, worth of US goods, matching “dollar for dollar” the new US duties that Trump imposed. It also announced a new plan for financial support for businesses caught in the trade war.

The counter-tariffs will impact more than 700 products, the government said in a statement, and will target the steel and aluminium, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, plastics and electronics sectors.

The tariffs will range from 15 percent to 50 percent and take effect on September 8.

The Canadian government also announced a new 7.5 billion-Canadian-dollar ($5.42bn) funding package to help small- and medium-sized businesses mitigate financial risks caused by the new tariffs.

Negotiations deteriorate

The new tariffs come after US President Donald Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on Canadian products on Saturday, impacting $20bn worth of Canadian goods, only days after announcing a deal.

On Monday, Trump announced new tariffs on Canadian autos, which would double existing tariffs to 50 percent from January 1.

Trump has also hurled insults at Canada in recent days. On Tuesday, Trump said that he was considering renaming Lake Ontario – the easternmost of the Great Lakes, which borders the Canadian province of Ontario – “Lake America”. The US president also referred to Prime Minister Mark Carney as “Governor Carney”, echoing longstanding remarks about annexing Canada as the “51st state”.

On Tuesday, Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that the US lost $60bn to Canada annually for the last decade.

But Canada maintains a trade surplus with the US of 9.9 billion Canadian dollars ($7.1bn), according to Statistics Canada. Al Jazeera reached out to the White House for clarification but did not receive a response.

US consumers feel the pinch

The impact of US tariffs is expected to be felt by US businesses and consumers. Cars and auto parts have been exempt from the tariffs that were imposed on Saturday, but have been a point of contention between Washington and Ottawa.

Canada is the largest purchaser of US-made cars, which could put pressure on American carmakers who rely on Canadian demand.

Meanwhile, US households could face higher prices on 550 consumer goods imported from Canada because of Trump’s 50 percent tariff. Those products include ice skates, toilet paper, some alcoholic beverages and paint.

That could drastically affect Americans, according to a report from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, an economic think tank, which found that US importers and consumers absorb 96 percent of the tariff burden.

Markets react

The price of gold, which is largely considered a safe investment in times of economic uncertainty, is trending upwards after falling nearly 1 percent earlier on Tuesday. It remains largely flat, down only 0.03 percent at $4,696 per ounce.

The US dollar has remained fairly stable, down 0.04 percent on Tuesday to 98.96, while the Canadian dollar index has risen comparably by 0.04 percent to 72.27.

On Wall Street, the Nasdaq is up 0.5 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is flat, and the S&P 500 is up 0.2 percent.

In Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 0.6 percent.