Trade frictions between the Trump Government and Canada are again on the rise. The President of the United States, Trump, announced on Monday that an additional 50 per cent tariff would be imposed on some Canadian commodities under section 338 of the 1930 Customs Act on the grounds that Canada had discriminatory practices against United States businesses.

The United States lists three reasons.

In his statement, the United States Trade Representative, Greer, stated that Canada had taken down United States wine products, while giving better market access to European Union dairy products, and had set a ceiling on added exports to companies that were partly returning to United States production. The United States has thus initiated additional tariff measures.

Some of the goods are not covered by tax increases.

This round does not apply to energy, potassium fertilizer, fish and key minerals, nor does it include automobiles and metal products that have been taxed separately. However, goods eligible for the terms of the United States-Mega Agreement would not be exempted at this time.

  • Not applicable commodities include energy, potassium fertilizer, fish
  • Key minerals excluded from new tariffs
  • Automobiles and metals are still subject to specific tariffs

The relationship between the United States and Canada continues to deteriorate.

Earlier this month, the United States had decided not to renew the United States-Mega Agreement, which meant that the two countries might enter a new round of long-term trade negotiations in the future. With the easing of the existing framework, the United States-Calcan trade and economic relations are further under pressure.

Last week, Trump also threatened to impose additional tariffs on the grounds that the smoke from Canada's mountain fires had drifted into the United States and accused Canada of “intentional negligence” in forest management. This claim was subsequently publicly refuted by the Canadian side.

The Governor of Ontario's demand for reciprocity

On Monday, the Governor of Ontario, Doug Ford, stated that Trump's statement was “ungrounded” and urged the United States to provide fire-fighting support to Canada, rather than continuing pressure.

Ford further stated that if the United States were to advance this round of tariffs, Canada should take a “tariff-to-tax, amount-to-value” approach, which would indicate that support for countermeasures was increasing at the local level in Canada.