Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Thursday his country will impose 25 percent tariffs on U.S. auto imports that do not comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on free trade.
Carney said the tariffs are a direct response to President Trump’s 25 percent auto tariffs, which took effect Thursday.
“As I told President Trump during our call last week, Canada will respond to the U.S. auto tariffs. And today, I’m announcing that the government of Canada will be responding by matching the U.S. approach,” Carney said at a Thursday press conference, announcing the 25 percent tariffs.
Carney said the tariffs would not be imposed on auto parts, nor would they be imposed on Mexico.
“Our tariffs, though, unlike the U.S. tariffs, will not affect auto parts because we know the benefits of our integrated production system, and they will also not affect vehicle content from Mexico, who is respecting the CUSMA [USMCA] agreement,” Carney added.
Carney said he expects the countertariffs to generate up to approximately $8 billion and said “every single dollar raised from those countertariffs … will go directly to our auto workers and the companies affected by those tariffs” imposed by the U.S.
The newly minted Canadian leader made the announcement a day after Trump announced his most sweeping tariffs yet including a 10 percent baseline tariff on imports and significantly higher duties on dozens of countries. The president revealed the list of countries and the corresponding tariffs he is imposing on them at a press conference Wednesday. Canada and Mexico — which have already been hit with tariffs by the U.S. — were notably absent from that list of new tariffs.
“While it’s progress that further tariffs were not imposed on Canada yesterday, the president’s actions will reverberate here in Canada and across the world,” Carney said.
Carney further warned of the global ramifications of Trump’s tariffs, saying they “will rupture the global economy and adversely affect global economic growth.”
“The global economy is fundamentally different today than it was yesterday,” Carney continued. “The system of global trade, anchored on the United States, that Canada has relied on since the end of the Second World War — a system that, while not perfect, has helped to deliver prosperity for our country for decades — is over. Our old relationship of steadily deepening integration with the United States is over.”
“The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over,” he added.
Carney said he will work hard to get Canada the best deal under the new U.S. approach to trade on the continent, but he said, “At the same time, Canada must be looking elsewhere to expand our trade, to build our economy and to protect our sovereignty.”
“Canada is ready to take a leadership role in building a coalition of like-minded countries who share our values,” Carney said. “We believe in international cooperation. We believe in the free and open exchange of goods, services and ideas.”
“And if the United States no longer wants to lead, Canada will,” he added.
