In an announcement on Monday evening, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau disclosed that Canada would be imposing retaliatory tariffs on the United States as a response to US tariffs. These new tariffs are set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. (0501 GMT) on Tuesday.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump had indicated that the US would move forward with imposing 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, along with 10% duties on Canadian energy products starting from March 4, after a one-month reprieve had expired.
Trudeau stated that tariffs on C$30 billion ($20.80 billion) worth of US imports would be implemented immediately, with the possibility of additional tariffs in the future. Although the retaliatory amount matches the figure announced in February, specific details regarding the impacted goods were not provided.
Here are the details of the retaliatory plan unveiled by Canada last month:
**RETALIATORY TARIFFS**
Canada will be levying 25% tariffs on C$30 billion worth of US goods, effective immediately. These tariffs will be sustained until the US lifts its tariffs against Canada. Notably, the countermeasures will not affect goods already in transit.
Of the total retaliatory measure targeting C$155 billion in US imports, C$30 billion will be implemented right away, with the remaining C$125 billion set to take effect after a 21-day consultation period.
**PRODUCTS**
The initial phase of retaliation encompasses a list of 1,256 products, including items like orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper. Some significant products associated with the import costs are cosmetics and body care at C$3.5 billion, household items at C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products at C$3 billion, plastic products at C$1.8 billion, among others.
**SECOND TRANCHE**
Further, the government plans to seek public and stakeholder input for a second tranche of retaliatory tariffs, which will cover various US imports such as passenger vehicles, trucks, electric vehicles, steel and aluminum products, fruits and vegetables, aerospace products, beef, pork, and dairy.
**NON-TARIFF MEASURES**
Trudeau also mentioned that Canada is exploring non-tariff retaliatory measures, potentially related to critical minerals, energy procurement, and other partnerships. The Minister of Energy has even suggested an export tariff on critical minerals as a possible option.
**SUPPORT**
The government intends to minimize the impact of these tariff countermeasures on Canadian workers and businesses. A remission process will be established to review requests for relief from the imposed tariffs as part of Canada’s immediate response and any future tariff actions.
(Note: Exchange rate – $1 = 1.4426 Canadian dollars)
(Reported by Promit Mukherjee; Edited
