Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s tit-for-tat tariffs on more than $20 billion of U.S. goods took effect just after midnight Tuesday, with duties of 15% to 50% on U.S. steel, aluminum, wool, lumber, milk, T-shirts, air conditioners, and other products as trade talks remain stalled. Less than 24 hours later, President Trump said he was directing the General Services Administration and the U.S. Trade Representative to cut Canadian products from federal contracts unless Canada restores “full and fair reciprocity” for American farmers and companies.
Talks collapsed after Trump hit a similar range of Canadian goods with steep tariffs covering roughly 5% of Canadian exports to the United States. Canada is America’s second-largest trading partner after Mexico, with hundreds of billions of dollars in goods crossing the border each year; the escalating spiral has already rattled markets and Midwestern auto and dairy states.
