USA

The first shots of the trade war between the United States and Canada have been fired.

Whether it escalates beyond the planned 25 per cent tariff into a wider economic war depends upon how genuinely serious President Donald Trump is about annexation, experts say.

Tariffs are one thing. While painful and destructive, experts agree duties alone would not crush the Canadian economy, nor the political establishment, into submission.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25-per-cent tariffs will quickly force North American auto plants to stop production, warns Linda Hasenfratz, executive chair of Linamar Corp., an Ontario-based supplier to the major automakers.

Mr. Trump said he would impose the tariffs on Feb. 1 to correct trade imbalances and spur Canada and Mexico to improve their border security, despite warnings from economists the levies will drive U.S. inflation and damage the economy.

This will not turn out well for EV mania unless they open the market to China which I would not put past Trudeau.

Canadian leaders call for retaliation, unity in response to Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports

Leaders across Canada are calling for retaliation and unity in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports.

Early Saturday evening, Trump signed an executive order declaring 25 per cent tariffs on almost all Canadian goods, and a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian energy products, will begin on Tuesday.

Which industries will feel the pinch of Trump’s tariffs the hardest?

OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order Saturday to impose tariffs of 10 per cent on Canadian energy and 25 per cent on everything else beginning on Feb. 4.

Alberta premier responds to Trump tariffs, will work with Ottawa on response

Alberta’s premier says she’s “disappointed” with U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to implement tariffs on Canadian goods and said she’ll work together with Ottawa on a response.

Trump signed an executive order Saturday following through on threats to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods.

Afterward, Premier Danielle Smith posted to social media to say the province “will do everything in its power” to convince the U.S. to reverse the “mutually destructive policy.”

Canada, Mexico strike back with retaliatory tariffs on American goods hours after Trump’s executive action

Canada and Mexico’s top leaders blasted President Trump Saturday hours after he imposed a 25% tariff on the neighboring countries — and announced they would retaliate by enforcing their own on the US.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed he and Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo agreed to work together to push back against Trump’s long-awaited taxing program, which he claimed was aimed at halting the influx of drugs into the US.

OTTAWA — Canada marched into a trade war against its greatest ally on Saturday, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing 25-per-cent retaliatory tariffs against $155-billion worth of American goods, precisely matching President Donald Trump’s move to tax Canadian imports.

Trudeau is preening for the cameras and playing a silly game that serves no worthwhile purpose. He is in fact making things worse for Canadians.

Ratio’d

LIVE: Canada’s response to U.S. tariffs | EN DIRECT : Réplique aux tarifs douaniers américains https://t.co/1R7HT03O9G

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 2, 2025

Trump launches trade war against Canada with a 25% tariff on most goods

Canadians who want to protest U.S. tariffs by purchasing local products face an ironic yet unfortunate reality: Buying Canadian isn’t always so easy.

Interprovincial trade barriers, which hinder the movement of goods and workers within the country, are a decades-old aggravation for the economy. These hurdles can make it more challenging for Canadian businesses to sell their products to other parts of the country than to the United States. Even as Canada faces the prospect of crippling U.S. tariffs, it is fighting another trade war – with itself.

OTTAWA—It’s a brief reprieve. But for Donald Trump’s doubters, or Canadians living in hope who thought he wouldn’t act on his tariff threat, the White House says forget that.

The U.S. president said Friday he will fulfil his threat to impose 25 per cent surcharges on Canadian and Mexican imports starting Feb. 1, in order to halt fentanyl and illegal immigrants at America’s northern and southern borders, and to correct what he calls unfair trade deficits.

However, Trump suggested there would be a staggered rollout, telling reporters he will target Canadian oil and gas shipments with a lower 10 per cent tariff rate, setting a later date for implementation of Feb. 18.

The front page of the Wednesday National Post featured a long essay by Jordan Peterson on what lousy friends Canadians have been to the Americans. Regular readers of the Western Standard will find little in the substance of his remarks that is new. His Laurentian readers will be shocked.