US and Canada fail to reach trade deal: additional 50% tariffs take effect
Trade talks between the United States and Canada ended without an agreement. On Saturday morning, additional US tariffs of 50% on a range of Canadian goods took effect. The restrictions affect Canadian exports worth approximately $20 billion, CNBC Top News reports.
Goods subject to the new tariffs
The new tariffs apply, among other things, to wine, furniture, dairy products, cement, clothing, fishing rods and hockey equipment. Representatives of both countries had been working on an agreement throughout the week and had previously said that a deal could be close.
US President Donald Trump postponed the initial deadline scheduled for Wednesday just hours before it was due. He said that the agreement would soon be finalized. Canada's Minister responsible for Canada-US Trade, Dominic LeBlanc, told reporters on Thursday that an agreement was very close.
Positions of the US and Canada
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that progress in the talks had been insufficient to achieve Canada's goals. According to him, last-minute changes made by the US to the proposed terms were unfair, economically disadvantageous and called into question the reliability of any agreement.
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Carney said that Canada would respond to the new US tariffs with equivalent measures. At the same time, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said at a White House briefing that Canada had refused to finalize the deal under terms agreed earlier that week.
The Trump administration signed three proclamations in July introducing additional 50% tariffs on certain Canadian goods. The US explained this by citing trade discrimination against American goods and industries, including those related to automobiles, alcohol and dairy products. The tariffs were imposed under Section 338 of the US Tariff Act of 1930, which gives the president the authority to set duties of up to 50% on goods from countries deemed to discriminate against the United States.
The collapse of the talks occurred amid tensions in relations between the countries and negotiations over the trilateral US-Canada-Mexico agreement, the USMCA. It was not renewed in July amid concerns over the US trade deficit.
