US hits Canada with 50% tariffs as trade talks collapse, Carney vows retaliation

The United States in a recent move hit Canada with 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods on Saturday as the trade talks to reach a deal between the two countries collapsed.

The tariffs that came into effect just after midnight targets several products including wooden ice hockey sticks, tongue depressors and 5 percent of what Canada ships to the United States every year.

The imposition of these tariffs has escalated a trade war between the two historic trade allies as the Canadian PM Mark Carney vowed to retaliate.

Taking to X, Carney issued a statement, “Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses,”

The retaliation worsens the trade conflict and raises questions over the future of a North American trade pact between the United States, Canada and Mexico that is crucial to industry in all three countries, making it difficult to renew.

"I have decided to suspend trade negotiations with the U.S. and have directed Canada’s negotiators to ​return to Ottawa," Carney said.

"They (negotiators) have worked hard, in good faith, to defend the interests of Canadians throughout these negotiations up until the very last minute," he said. "However, last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal."

The US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement shortly before midnight, “Tonight, Canada declined to finalize the trade deal under the terms agreed earlier this week.”

In the recent talks which broke down, Canada sought concessions on Trump tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos and lumber that the United States was reluctant to deliver as reported by the senior official from the Trump administration.

In return, Carney had asked Canadian provinces to restore US alcohol to store shelves.