Canada tariffs on $12.6B of U.S. goods take effect
Canada has begun imposing tariffs on $12.6 billion in U.S. goods as retaliation for the Trump administration's new taxes on steel and aluminum imported to the United States. The tariffs went into effect Sunday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government released on Friday the full list of items that Canada is targeting. Some U.S. products, mostly steel and iron, face 25 percent tariffs, the same penalty the United States slapped on imported steel at the end of May. Other U.S. imports, from ketchup to pizza to dishwasher detergent, will face a 10 percent tariff at the Canadian border, the same as America's tax on imported aluminum.
President Donald Trump infuriated U.S. allies -- from Canada to Mexico and the European Union -- by imposing tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday they had no other choice and will not escalate the dispute, but also will not back down. She called the tariffs regrettable.
Trudeau on Sunday spoke in Leamington, Ontario, where he thanked Canadians for standing united against President Donald Trump's sanctions. He urged Canadians to "make their choices accordingly" in considering whether to buy American products.
The selection of Leamington, known as Canada's tomato capital, was deliberate. The town is home to a food-processing plant that supplies tomato paste and other products to French's, a major competitor of Kraft Heinz. Heinz left Canada and sold its Leamington plant in 2014, after 105 years of Canadian operations.
