Shafaqna Pakistan: The United States and Canada failed to reach a trade agreement late Friday, with Washington announcing plans to impose 50% tariffs on certain Canadian imports, further escalating tensions between the two long-standing allies.
A senior Trump administration official said the tariffs, imposed under Section 338, would apply to around $20 billion worth of Canadian goods and take effect shortly after midnight on Saturday.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Ottawa had suspended trade negotiations and would respond to the new US tariffs with equivalent measures.
The announcement followed three days of negotiations in Washington between Canadian Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
“I have decided to suspend trade negotiations with the U.S. and have directed Canada’s negotiators to return to Ottawa,” Carney said in a statement.
“They (negotiators) have worked hard, in good faith, to defend the interests of Canadians throughout these negotiations up until the very last minute,” he said. “However, last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.”
While the new measures affect a relatively small share of Canadian exports, they add to existing U.S. tariffs on steel, lumber and autos. The new tariffs could thwart Canada’s fragile economic recovery and impact how the two neighbors engage in the coming months on broader negotiations for a free-trade pact.
They apply regardless of whether Canadian goods qualify for preferential treatment under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which has shielded much of Canadian industry from earlier U.S. tariffs.
Source: Dunya News
