President Trump threatened on Monday to increase tariffs on all cars, trucks, car parts and steel from Canada to 50 percent, starting Jan. 1, as the relationship with America’s closest traditional ally edges toward a full-blown trade war.
Writing on Truth Social, the president said that Canada was “among the worst Nations in the World to deal with” and that it “will be treated like a State no longer.”
“They feel entitled, and yet, WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US!” he wrote.
Trade tensions between the United States and Canada have spiraled over the past few days, after the two sides failed to reach a trade deal and Mr. Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion of the country’s exports on Saturday.
Mr. Trump had threatened those tariffs in a bid to speed trade talks and persuade Canada to remove some of the retaliatory measures it had taken against yet other tariffs Mr. Trump introduced last year. But despite weeks of negotiations — and frequent reassurances from Mr. Trump that a deal was close — the two sides announced late Friday that they had failed to come to terms.
In Canada, Mr. Trump’s actions provoked an immediate and defiant response. On Saturday, Mark Carney, the country’s prime minister, said the longtime allies were “at war” over trade, and promised to respond in kind with tariffs targeting U.S. agriculture, electronics, steel and other sectors. Canadian officials have said they would announce their retaliatory measures on Tuesday.
Mr. Carney told reporters on Monday that he was not surprised by threats of further reprisals from Washington after his announcement that Canada would match Mr. Trump’s tariffs “dollar for dollar.”
“We learned from the U.S. team during negotiations that he wants to destroy our major industries,” Mr. Carney said in French. “That’s one of the major reasons that led us to say ‘no.’ It was a bad deal.”
He added that the Trump administration will have to revise its approach if talks are ever to restart.
“The attitude, at the negotiation table, that Canada is a subsidiary of the United States, that Canadian industry is going to be disadvantaged relative to American industry, that we’re going to set up terms so that over time Canadian industry is going face constant headwinds — that’s not something we’re going to accept,” Mr. Carney said.
Tariffs have already been devastating for the Canadian auto industry, a major source of cars, car parts and steel for U.S. automakers. Companies including General Motors and Stellantis, the maker of Jeep and Chrysler cars, have cut back production in Canada or canceled expansion plans.
Auto industry associations, which typically speak for the manufacturers on political issues, had no immediate comment on Monday on the latest tariffs. In the past they have complained that levies on Canadian autos and steel help Japanese, Korean and German car manufacturers because they can import Canadian goods at more favorable rates than U.S. carmakers, then sell the vehicles in the United States.
Trump officials have defended their decisions. But elsewhere in Washington, the new U.S. tariffs drew significant opposition. Congressional Democrats attacked the Trump administration, and even some Republicans expressed alarm that the duties could cause domestic costs to rise.
In Maine on Monday, Vice President JD Vance told a crowd of supporters that he was among those who thought the United States and Canada essentially had a deal before Canada came in “with a bunch of unreasonable last-minute demands.”
“I think that we should have a deal, but I think that we need to send a message loud and clear to the prime minister of Canada,” Mr. Vance said. “Stop taking advantage of the people of Maine. Stop taking advantage of America.”
But Senator Susan Collins of Maine, one of the more vulnerable Republican incumbents, told local media over the weekend that she was not expected to attend the event. Ms. Collins, who has at times clashed with the Trump administration, on Saturday implored the president to reverse course on Canadian import taxes and “reach a fair agreement” with the country bordering her state.
“Ever since the tariffs were first announced, I have heard from many businesses, farmers and lobstermen concerned about the cost of navigating the tariffs, the lack of domestic supply chains and the likely imposition of retaliatory tariffs by Canada,” Ms. Collins said.
Canadian officials have attributed the breakdown to U.S. negotiators, claiming that Washington had made last-minute demands that upended the talks. But Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, has maintained that Canadian leaders were to blame.
Shortly after talks faltered, Mr. Greer told The New York Times that the U.S. offer had included cutting tariffs targeting steel, aluminum and automobiles, and eliminating entirely a tariff Mr. Trump put on lumber last year. Speaking on CNBC on Monday, he said that Canadian officials had also been pressing U.S. leaders to drop some tariffs on heavy-duty vehicles.
“We progressed to a point Tuesday night where we had enough agreement among the parties to announce that we had found a way to a deal,” Mr. Greer told CNBC. “Then we set about to finalize it. And then in the last hours, I think, there were things that the Canadians just, you know, they wanted more.”
“I don’t know if it was political for them,” Mr. Greer added. “It certainly doesn’t make economic sense, but perhaps for political reasons, they have some by-elections coming up, I don’t know. But they came in and they wanted more. And we weren’t prepared to do that.”
It is not clear what legal authority Mr. Trump would use to manifest the tariffs he threatened on Monday. While the Supreme Court struck down some of Mr. Trump’s global tariffs this year, he has used a variety of other laws to put tariffs on steel, cars and other industries.
The 50 percent tariff on $20 billion of Canadian exports that went into effect on Saturday relied on Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, an obscure statute that had never before been used to impose tariffs. Those tariffs could face legal challenges in the coming weeks, experts said.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Ian Austen and Jack Ewing contributed reporting.
