“You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked.” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that at a press conference on Saturday, August 22, 2026, hours after 50% U.S. tariffs on a wide range of Canadian goods took effect.
The levies landed just after midnight, after trade talks fell apart on Friday night shortly before the deadline. NPR put the value at $20 billion in Canadian products, among them some dairy, alcoholic beverages, cement and hockey equipment. CBC News counted hundreds of products worth more than $28 billion, from plywood and cement to wine and hockey sticks. The Guardian said the tariffs covered goods “from hockey sticks to tongue depressors”.
A deal that almost was
The two sides had appeared close. Canadian Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc spent the week in Washington with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, racing the Friday night deadline that Trump had extended by three days. The Guardian reported that the pact would have lowered tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars. CBC added that Carney had asked premiers to consider ending provincial bans on American alcohol in return.
Then it collapsed, and each side blamed the other. Carney said “last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.” He recalled his negotiators to Ottawa. He accused Washington of adding terms that would have cut tariff relief for Canadian-made vehicles, restricted Canada’s ability to strike deals with other countries and weakened protections for language, culture and sovereignty. “They asked too much and offered too little,” he said.
Greer said the opposite. “Tonight, Canada declined to finalize the trade deal under the terms agreed earlier this week,” he said, citing “new demands and walk backs of other commitments by Canada.” He also pointed to Canada’s continuing retaliation, including flat prohibitions on certain American goods and services. Speaking to Fox & Friends Weekend, he said: “We’ve said enough, and so we’ve taken countermeasures.”
Trump posted overnight: “Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!! They have also charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of Tariffs. No more!!!”
Canada’s answer
Carney promised to “match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses”. NPR reported that the counter-tariffs would start on September 8 and focus on U.S. steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics. Ontario Premier Doug Ford backed him: “tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar.”
CBC reported that the duties were imposed under Section 338 of the U.S. Tariff Act, the Smoot-Hawley Act, which allows rates of up to 50% on countries judged to be discriminating against the American economy. Goods compliant with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement had been exempt from earlier rounds. For many products, that stopped on Saturday.
Electronics faced the largest exposure: Canada exported more than $4 billion US of electronic equipment subject to the tariffs, CBC said. British Columbia was expected to be hit hardest of the provinces. Wood and paper alone made up more than 13 per cent of its exports to the U.S. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce called the tariffs “a body blow to North American competitiveness”.
Sources
- Canada vows 'dollar for dollar' response as US puts 50% tariffs on some goods | The Guardian
- American tariffs on Canadian goods take effect after trade talks fall apart | CBC News
- U.S.-Canada trade talks collapse | NPR
