Canada hits back at US with tariffs in escalating trade war

If Canada gives in to Trump's demands in the tariff war, it would "deplete Canadian key industries and curtail the country's independence," says Prime Minister Mark Carney. And he has the people with him, AP writes.

- Carney and Canada have become a symbol of the opposition to Trump. And he will want to set an example, and everyone else will understand that they have to distance themselves even more from the United States, historian Robert Bothwell told the AP.

Canada already declared when Trump started his customs policy in 2025 that it drives "elbows up" in politics, and responds in kind.

- It is very clear that the issue is a matter of principle for the Canadians, that even if this is a financial cost, they are willing to go ahead with the measures, says Felinda Livgård, subject advisor at Kommerskollegium.

On Tuesday, as previously stated, Canada responded to the US's tariffs with its own tariffs of 15-50 percent on a number of American imports, "dollar for dollar" according to Carney. The tariffs affect $20 billion worth of imported goods, about 6 percent of US exports to Canada, which last year were just over $330 billion.

Before Canada's response, Trump has increased the pressure on Carney, by portraying him as a weak leader and threatening "consequences worse than anything that has ever happened to a Canadian politician". He also changed the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, something that is joked about in Canada, and insists on calling the country "the 51st state of the United States".

On Monday, Trump posted a post targeting Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier, with the message "No more sales of Bombardier in the US!" – unless production is moved to the USA.

The answer came from a Canadian trade organization that Bombardier buys jet engines from American GE and Honeywell, and employs 3,000 Americans.

Carney became a red flag for Trump in January at the economic summit in Davos, when the Canadian warned that the superpowers are using the economy to blackmail smaller countries. The speech established him as the leader of the countries trying to resist Trump's tariff policies.

Trump responded the next day with Canada "only alive because of the United States" and "Mark, remember that next time you make a statement."

Next week, Carney will address the European Parliament, giving him yet another international stage.

- Opinion in Canada is behind the Carney government, and the rest of the world is following what is happening. If Canada's defiant stance succeeds, it could become a model for resisting the Trump administration's trade policies, political scientist Daniel Béland told AP.

However, Felinda Livgård believes that this is far from certain.

- Just as we have seen in the statistics that it is the Americans who are responsible for the American tariffs, the Canadians will have to be responsible for the tariffs they have imposed on imports from the USA. It is not nationally independent to introduce tariffs as countermeasures, it is something that must be done very carefully and proper balances are required. So I don't think it's the case that this will lead to more countries being swept up in it, she says.