The United States and the European Union will also impose tariffs on American products.
Canada will impose $29.8 billion in retaliatory tariffs on the United States starting Thursday morning in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs, Canadian Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said.
Trump's tariff increases on steel and aluminum imports took effect Wednesday as previous exemptions, duty-free quotas, and product exclusions expire, and as his campaign to reorder global trade rules in favor of the United States gains momentum.
Canada is the largest foreign supplier of steel and aluminum to the United States.
Canada's retaliation will affect Canadian dollars worth of steel products and aluminum products worth Canadian dollars, as well as other imported U.S. products worth Canadian dollars worth Canadian dollars, for a total of Canadian dollars worth Canadian dollars worth Canadian dollars.
Among the products affected by Canada's counter-tariffs are computers, sporting goods, and cast iron products, LeBlanc said at a news conference.
The escalating trade war between the United States and Canada comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prepares to hand over power this week to his successor, Mark Carney, who won the leadership race of the governing Liberals on Sunday.
On Monday, Carney said he couldn't speak to Trump until he was sworn in as prime minister. Trump reiterated on social media that he wants Canada to "become our beloved 51st state."
THE EU'S RESPONSE
Starting next April, the European Union will impose tariffs worth up to €26 billion on a wide range of products from the United States in response to the "unjustified" 25% tariffs imposed by the new Donald Trump administration on European steel and aluminum imports.
The EU executive "regrets the United States' decision to impose such tariffs, which are unjustified and detrimental to transatlantic trade, harmful to businesses and consumers, and often result in higher prices," the EU services summarize in its first response to Washington.
Thus, Brussels will reactivate the tariffs it imposed during previous trade crises in 2018 and 2020 to address €8 billion in damage to European production and will launch a new package in response to the new US tariffs affecting more than €18 billion in European quotas.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has made it clear that the EU "deeply regrets" the US measures because tariffs "are taxes," and in a context of so many "geopolitical and economic uncertainties," such measures can only harm the economy.
Brussels estimates the impact of US tariffs on European steel, aluminum, and derived products at around $28 billion, and is responding with tariffs on imports of a wide range of American products, from food to iconic brands such as Bourbon whiskey and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
Community sources explain that, unlike previous cases, this time the United States includes aluminum-derived products, which greatly expands the scope of impact and could result in cases where European industries whose taxed aluminum parts actually originate in the United States are affected.
The European bloc has not ruled out the possibility of the case reaching the World Trade Organization (WTO) or that Brussels could resort to other retaliatory instruments such as the mechanism against foreign interference. However, the sources consulted insist for now that the announced package is intended to "demonstrate the determination" of the 27, although they note that "all options are on the table."
In this way, experts hope to "hit the US economy where it hurts most" and explain that the threshold of products listed by the EU targets sectors that may be emblematic for Americans but have a lower cost for Europeans.
