Canada announces 25% tariffs on $155-bn worth US imports

The announcement was made by Minister of Finance and Inter-Governmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc and Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly.

The scope of the Canadian counter tariffs will be raised to $155 billion if the current US tariffs are maintained. The scope could also be increased if new tariffs are imposed, an official release from the Canadian Department of Finance said.

The first phase of Canada's response includes products like appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics and certain pulp and paper products.

The government is also taking steps to mitigate the impact of these countermeasures on Canadian workers and businesses by establishing a remission process to consider requests for exceptional relief from the tariffs imposed as part of our response to the US applying ‘unjustified’ tariffs on Canada, the release said.

“The tariffs imposed by the US administration are unjustified, and detrimental to both Americans and Canadians. Working with provincial, territorial and industry partners, our singular focus is to get them removed as quickly as possible. While we urge the US administration to reconsider their decision to impose tariffs, Canada will remain firm in standing up for our jobs, our industries, and our workers,” the release added.

The 25-per cent tariffs that came into force yesterday on $30-billion worth US imports include handbags containing textiles, leather or composition leather; apparel and clothing accessories; handkerchiefs, cleansing or facial tissues and towels; tablecloths and serviettes; sacks and bags; carpets and other textile floor coverings of textile, coconut fibre, wool or fine animal hair; graduated compression hosiery; and innerwear.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)