US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the United States would put a 35 percent tariff on Canadian goods starting next month and that it would impose 15 percent or 20 percent blanket tariffs on most of its trading partners.
Trump informed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in a letter posted on his Truth Social account that the higher tariff would take effect on Aug. 1 and would increase if Canada reacted.
The 35 percent tariff is a setback for Carney, who was trying to reach a trade agreement with Washington, and it is more than the current rate of 25 percent.
An administration official said that Trump has not yet made a final decision on the 10 percent tariffs on energy and fertilizer, and it was anticipated that the exclusion for items covered by the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on trade will remain in place.
In his letter, the president lamented the country’s tariff-and non-tariff trade barriers that harm US dairy farmers and others, as well as what he called the flood of fentanyl from Canada. He said that the US economy and national security were in danger due to the trade deficit.
Canadian officials claimed that only a small proportion of fentanyl comes from their country, although they have taken steps to fortify the border.
“If Canada works with me to stop the flow of Fentanyl, we will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter,” Trump wrote in his letter.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by Carney’s office. In June he announced that he and Trump had reached an agreement to finalise a new security and economic agreement within 30 days.
In recent days, Trump has escalated his trade war by imposing fresh tariffs several nations, including allies South Korea and Japan, in addition to a 50 percent tariff on copper.
Trump stated that other trading partners who have not yet received his letters would probably be subject to blanket tariffs. He was speaking during an interview with NBC News that was released on Thursday.
“Not everybody has to get a letter. You know that. We’re just setting our tariffs,” Trump said in the interview.
“We’re just going to say all of the remaining countries are going to pay, whether it’s 20% or 15%. We’ll work that out now.”
Canada is the largest importer of American products and the country’s second-largest trading partner after Mexico. According to US Census Bureau data, it exported $412.7 billion to the US and purchased $349.4 billion worth of US goods last year.
Carney had been hoping to reach a trade agreement with its major trading partner by July 21. He led his Liberal Party to a resounding election victory earlier this year with a promise to address trade issues with the US.
Although Trump did not mention the status of trade talks in his letter, he did state that “tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country.”
A planned tax on digital services that targeted American technology companies was scrapped by the Carney administration last month after Trump cancelled trade negotiations, calling the tax a “blatant attack.”