{"id":45445,"date":"2025-03-04T22:07:21","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T22:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=45445"},"modified":"2026-07-08T02:21:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T02:21:59","slug":"canada-strike-back-with-tarriffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2025\/03\/04\/canada-strike-back-with-tarriffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada strike back with Tarriffs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Justin Trudeau\u00a0has claimed the aim of a \u201cdumb\u201d trade war launched by\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0is to usher in the \u201ccomplete collapse\u201d of the Canadian economy and make it easier for the United States to annex\u00a0Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking hours after\u00a0the US slapped 25% taxes on Canadian and Mexican goods\u00a0\u2013 and a 10% levy on Canadian energy exports \u2013 the prime minister announced retaliatory tariffs on US exports and said his country would remain defiant against the aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been in tough spots before \u2026 but we have not only survived, we have emerged stronger than ever, because when it comes to defending our great nation, there is no price we all aren\u2019t willing to pay, and today is no different,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trudeau, who will step down as prime minister after the ruling Liberal party chooses a new leader on Sunday, said the spat between allies is \u201cexactly what our opponents around the world want to see\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday the United States launched a trade war against Canada<\/a>,\u201d he said. At the same time, the Trump administration was \u201ctalking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin, aligning with a murderous dictator\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trudeau also rejected Trump\u2019s repeated taunts that Canada should cede its sovereignty and join the US: \u201cThat is never going to happen. We will never be the 51st state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada\u2019s retaliatory response includes matching tariffs on C$155bn (US$107bn) worth of US goods. The first tranche of taxes applies to C$30bn worth of goods and the remaining C$125bn would kick in within 21 days, giving Canadian companies the chance to amend supply chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point Trudeau directed his comments at US voters, saying: \u201cWe don\u2019t want to see you hurt. But your government has chosen to do this to you. As of this morning, markets are down, and inflation is set to rise dramatically all across your country. Your government has chosen to put American jobs at risk at the thousands of workplaces that succeed because of materials from Canada or because of consumers in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cAmericans will lose jobs. Americans will pay more for groceries, for gas, for cars, for homes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing Trump directly, Trudeau said: \u201cEven though you\u2019re a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has claimed that the tariffs were a response to Canada\u2019s failure to stop fentanyl smuggling into the US, an argument Trudeau called \u201ccompletely bogus, completely unjustified, completely false\u201d. Although some drugs do cross the border, in both directions, so little fentanyl enters the US from Canada that the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) does not even mention the country\u00a0in a report from 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Posting on social media, Trump later raised the prospect of further escalation with a warning that any retaliatory levies by Canada would prompt further measures from the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s aggressive tactics have prompted a groundswell of patriotism, uniting provincial leaders across the political spectrum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ontario\u2019s premier, Doug Ford, the leader of Canada\u2019s most economically powerful province, said his government would \u201cmake sure Americans feel pain\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"man<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ford, who recently won re-election on a pledge to fight US taxes, says he will impose a 25% export tax on electricity it supplies to three US states if the American tariffs on Canadian goods \u201cpersist\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ontario also pulled all American spirits and wines from its shelves, barred US companies from bidding on procurement contracts and tore up a deal with\u00a0Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ford said he felt \u201cterrible\u201d about Canada\u2019s response, citing his close relationship with American governors, but said the moves were necessary to send a strong message to the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe stock market will go downhill faster than the American bobsled team,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen the market drops, that\u2019s the people speaking. Isn\u2019t this a shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery country is very, very aware that if the American government is willing to do this to their own closest neighbour, ally and friend, everyone is vulnerable to a trade war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depending on how long the tariffs persist \u2013 and if they increase \u2013 the effects on the Canadian economy would be catastrophic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Quebec premier, Fran\u00e7ois Legault, warned on Tuesday his province could lose up to 160,000 jobs over the next few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe must be able to make Mr Trump pay the price for decisions that do not make sense, even for Americans,\u201d he said in an interview with Radio-Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Houston, the Nova Scotia premier, called \u200b\u200bTrump a \u201cshortsighted man\u201d who \u201cwields his power just for the sake of it\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement soon after the tariffs went into effect, Houston said it was \u201cimpossible to properly describe the uncertainty and chaos\u201d that the trade war was causing for Canadians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In neighbouring Newfoundland and Labrador, staff at the province\u2019s liquor stores were ordered to pull all American products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, more than ever, we should be supporting local and Canadian-made products where possible,\u201d the outgoing premier, Andrew Furey, said in the release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alberta\u2019s rightwing populist premier, Danielle Smith, who has previously resisted calls to cut oil exports to the US, called Trump\u2019s action \u201can unjustifiable economic attack on Canadians and Albertans\u201d and said the move was \u201cboth foolish and a failure in every regard\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justin Trudeau\u00a0has claimed the aim of a \u201cdumb\u201d trade war launched by\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0is to usher in the \u201ccomplete collapse\u201d of the Canadian economy and make it easier for the United States to annex\u00a0Canada. Speaking hours after\u00a0the US slapped 25% taxes on Canadian and Mexican goods\u00a0\u2013 and a 10% levy on Canadian energy exports \u2013 the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":45446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,12],"tags":[5304,9204,1953,11017,1977,5520,8924,6369,9233,8051,5262,8516,10668,11273,6144,5196,911,5800,4119,5494,746,9018,6397,5491,6032,2264,8049,10598,10483,12773,6546,11493,7407,8923,4804,10958,10742,3797,7259,5441,6027,12103,3174,71,6431,5807,3457,9881,5349,11187,6327,5818,8840,12244,11749,1502,6206,10329,13182,9262,184,6348,4962,694,5251,6571,2982,36,594],"class_list":["post-45445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-world-news","tag-attack","tag-border","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-prime-minister-justin-trudeau","tag-cars","tag-chance","tag-chaos","tag-collapse","tag-consumers","tag-cut","tag-dea","tag-dictator","tag-drug","tag-drugs","tag-economy","tag-election","tag-electricity","tag-elon-musk","tag-energy","tag-feel","tag-fentanyl","tag-ford","tag-gas","tag-goods","tag-government","tag-groceries","tag-homes","tag-houston","tag-increase","tag-inflation","tag-interview","tag-jobs","tag-justin","tag-justin-trudeau","tag-liquor","tag-market","tag-mexican","tag-musk","tag-oil","tag-pledge","tag-price","tag-prime-minister","tag-putin","tag-release","tag-risk","tag-russia","tag-smart","tag-social-media","tag-starlink","tag-stock","tag-strike","tag-strong","tag-tariffs","tag-tarriffs","tag-tax","tag-taxes","tag-trade","tag-trump-administration","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-president-donald-john-trump-jr","tag-us","tag-usher","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-war","tag-white","tag-white-house","tag-world","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45445"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45448,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45445\/revisions\/45448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}