White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt displays a graphic showing tariffs imposed on U.S. goods from other countries, including Canada, at the White House on March 31.Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The White House says that the “reciprocal” tariffs set to be imposed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday will be meted out country by country, rather than by industry, as Canada braces for another round of levies.
After weeks of imposing and walking back on a number of tariffs, Mr. Trump is expected on Wednesday to follow through on his campaign promise to enact an “America first” trade policy that would recast the U.S.’s trading relationships with many countries. The U.S. President has promised that global tariffs would help bring back manufacturing jobs from abroad and fill government coffers to pay down federal debt.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that new tariffs on what Mr. Trump is calling “Liberation Day” will be imposed by country rather than by sector. She said Mr. Trump was still committed to imposing sector-based duties, but deferred to him on the timing of those plans.
The U.S. administration has already taken aim at some industrial sectors. Tariffs of 25 per cent have been imposed on steel and aluminum imports, and same-sized duties are set to take effect this week on automotive parts. A one-month pause on 25-per-cent tariffs for goods compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is also scheduled to expire.
“Whatever they charge us, we charge them,” Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday, adding that reciprocal tariffs would still be lower than what other countries impose on the U.S.
“Relatively speaking, we’re going to be very kind,” he added.
Mr. Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs are supposed to match tariff rates imposed by other countries on the United States, as well as other perceived trade barriers and taxes. The U.S. administration has blamed a lack of reciprocity in its trading relationships for the trade deficits it has with various countries. Most economists, however, don’t share Mr. Trump’s negative view of trade deficits.
For Canada, the tariffs are set to land during a federal election campaign that has been dominated by how the parties would fight the trade war and protect domestic workers and businesses.
Prime Minister Mark Carney told Mr. Trump in a phone call last week that he would impose retaliatory tariffs if Canada is targeted by U.S. trade action on Wednesday.
As Canada explores its options for retaliation, a new survey shows Canadians overwhelmingly back the idea of taxing important resources that are bound for the U.S.
The poll, conducted for The Globe and Mail and CTV News by Nanos Research between March 28 and March 30 found 77 per cent of survey respondents support export taxes on oil, natural gas and electricity, while 76 per cent support similar taxes on potash and other critical minerals headed to the U.S.
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Export taxes are levies applied to shipments leaving a country and are collected by that country’s government. They are intended to impose a cost on foreign customers.
While Mr. Trump has repeatedly said the U.S. does not need Canadian imports, the U.S. is heavily reliant on Canada for products like oil, uranium, potash and aluminum.
The issue of export taxes has become a point of tension between the federal government and the governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Yet the survey shows broad support for the measure in every region.
The strongest support for export taxes on energy and electricity was found in Ontario, where 82 per cent support the move. While the Prairies were home to the greatest outright opposition to those taxes, at 24.4 per cent, close to 68 per cent support the idea.
Nik Nanos, chief data scientist at Nanos Research, said the broad support gives governments “political licence” to use export tariffs as a lever in the trade war.
“When you get three out of four Canadians to agree on anything that’s as close to consensus as you can get,” he said.
It’s still unclear how Canada may be affected by the reciprocal tariffs, but the Trump administration has aired various grievances that may show up in additional levies.
Mr. Trump has frequently complained that Canada is “unfair” to American dairy farmers, for example, because of its supply management system.
Ms. Leavitt held up a paper for reporters on Monday that listed tariffs imposed against the United States by various trading partners, including tariffs Canada imposes on dairy imports. Canada allows small amount of dairy imports into the country duty-free, and applies tariffs as high as 200 to 300 per cent on products above that threshold.
Mr. Trump said he would place reciprocal tariffs on both Canadian dairy and lumber imports in early March, though he never followed through on that threat. While Canada doesn’t have lumber tariffs, the U.S. has long alleged the Canadian lumber industry is government-subsidized because the “stumpage fees” paid to provincial governments for the right to log are too low.
The U.S. has imposed countervailing and anti-dumping duties on Canadian forestry products since 2017.
The White House has also said reciprocal tariffs would be used to counter “extraterritorial taxes” other countries impose on Americans and U.S. companies.
It has singled out Canada and France for imposing digital services taxes, which affect large digital service providers such as Amazon, Google, Netflix and Spotify.
The U.S. administration has also argued that valued-added taxes, which are consumption taxes on goods and services commonly charged in countries around the world, disadvantage American exporters. Economists, however, dispute that claim.
The poll by Nanos Research, conducted for The Globe and Mail and CTV, surveyed 1,200 Canadians from March 28 to March 30. It has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
With a report from Mark Rendell