Canada will go ahead with a 25 per cent tariff on poultry and dairy products but has paused the tariff for beef and pork to April 2, the same date United States President Donald Trump set for delaying his 25 per cent tariffs on everything but energy from Canada. The energy tariff is 25 per cent and there is a 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminum.
Canada’s tariffs are to remain in effect until Trump stops threatening tariffs and until he withdraws his new tariffs on steel and aluminum.
The poultry and dairy tariffs will apply to the import quotas that are part of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico (CUSMA) trade agreement. Imports covered by the quotas have been at much lower rates.
Canadian Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced the decisions late Thursday, after U.S. President Donald Trump signed orders postponing or easing 25 per cent tariffs on large amounts of Canadian and Mexican goods.
Trump slapped tariffs Tuesday on all goods Canada and Mexico, demanding more action against drug trafficking and illegal border crossing, while claiming that trade deficits constituted “subsidies” to the United States’ neighbors.
Only miniscule drug trafficking and illegal border crossings originate in Canada, but the Globe and Mail has reported that Trump’s administration includes all seizures in Northern States even though many of those originate in Mexico.
Trade deficits have never been labelled subsidies before Trump said they are.
