Canada said it would impose a 25 percent tariff on some autos imported from the United States, retaliating against President Donald Trump’s levies that came into affect on Thursday.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced “25 percent tariffs on all vehicles imported from the United States that are not compliant with CUSMA,” using the Canadian acronym for an existing North America free trade agreement.
It was not immediately clear what percentage of US vehicle imports would be impacted.
Canada was largely spared from the sweeping global tariffs Trump announced Wednesday, as Washington granted an exemption to goods compliant with the US-Canada-Mexico free trade agreement, which covers most products.
But Canada, which is America’s largest trading partner, is still facing steel, aluminum and other products in addition to autos.
Carney said Trump’s trade war “will rupture the global economy.”
“The system of global trade anchored in the United States that Canada has relied on since the end of the Second World War… is over,” Carney said.
“The 80 year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect, championed the free and open exchange of goods and services is over,” Carney added, calling the development “a tragedy.”
Carney and Trump spoke by phone last week. They agreed Washington and Ottawa should negotiate the future of bilateral trade after Canada’s April 28 election.
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