Canada suspends trade negotiations with USA and match tariffs dollar for dollar

Aug 22, 2026 05:26 PM - 3 weeks ago 9

“Over the past 18 months, Canada’s caller authorities has focused connected building our spot astatine home, diversifying our partnerships abroad, and striking a adjacent woody pinch the United States.

Our objectives successful our waste and acquisition negotiations person been to:

  • Preserve tariff-free entree to the U.S. for the immense mostly of Canadian business;
  • Provide greater stableness to our waste and acquisition relationship;
  • Significantly trim U.S. tariffs connected our cardinal strategical industries, truthful that Canadian businesses successful these sectors would person the champion entree of immoderate successful the world;
  • Protect our mini and medium-sized businesses – the lifeblood of our system – including by removing the imminent threat of caller tariffs; and
  • Maintain our flexibility, independence, and sovereignty truthful we tin support building the Canada we want.

We person recognised from the opening that America has changed, and that we will not return to our aged relationship. Our authorities understood, earlier many, that America is altering each its waste and acquisition relationships. Putting tariffs connected its closest friends and charging for entree to its immense market.

We person worked successful that context. To onslaught a adjacent woody that would supply the champion entree to the U.S. marketplace and greater certainty to Canadian businesses and workers. Throughout, our extremity has been to unafraid the champion woody for Canadians, ne'er a woody astatine immoderate value aliases connected immoderate deadline.

In caller weeks, we made important advancement toward improving Canada’s position arsenic having the champion woody successful the world pinch the U.S.

However, that advancement has not been capable to meet our objectives for Canadians. As a result, this evening, I person decided to suspend waste and acquisition negotiations pinch the U.S. and person directed Canada’s negotiators to return to Ottawa. They person worked hard, successful bully faith, to take sides the interests of Canadians passim these negotiations up until the very past minute. However, last-minute changes successful the U.S. projected position were unfair, uneconomic, and called into mobility the reliability of immoderate deal.

At midnight tonight, the U.S. intends to enforce a 50% tariff connected astir $28 billion of Canadian goods. Canada will lucifer those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses.

In the coming days, the authorities will present further measures to support Canadian workers and businesses, building connected the astir $25 billion successful support provided complete the past 18 months.

These actions complement Canada’s halfway economical strategy. From time one, we person been focused connected building our spot astatine location and diversifying our partnerships abroad.

That strategy is working. We are advancing astir $500 billion successful awesome infrastructure projects. In parallel, we are unlocking caller export markets for Canadian businesses. Our existing free waste and acquisition deals already supply Canada pinch preferential entree to 1.5 billion consumers, and we are connected way to double that marketplace entree by the extremity of this year.

Canadian economical maturation is accelerating, and we are connected people to person the second-fastest maturation successful the G7 complete the adjacent 2 years. Our system is creating jobs astatine 4 times the complaint of the United States. Our exports to non-U.S. markets are connected way to double complete the adjacent decade. Foreign nonstop finance successful Canada is astatine its highest level successful 2 decades, moving astatine doubly the complaint of our nearest G7 competitor. Canada now ranks arsenic the astir charismatic state successful the world for infrastructure investment.

Canada has what the world wants. And we will not let immoderate federation to find our future. We will group our ain people to support building Canada beardown for all.”

More