Trucks travel on the Gordie Howe International Bridge, which connects Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, Mich., last month.Dax Melmer/The Canadian Press
The latest U.S. tariffs on a small number of Canadian goods took effect Tuesday as Washington pressed its trade war against Canada.
The White House said last week it would impose 50 per cent tariffs on goods representing about 0.6 per cent of U.S. imports from Canada, including outboard motorboats and metal and paper products.
American officials also said 50 per cent tariffs on goods representing about 0.5 per cent of U.S. imports from Canada, such as cement, sugar, toilet paper and fishing rods, would be removed.
It’s the latest stage of an evolving trade war that erupted after Canada walked away from formal trade negotiations last month.
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Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the Americans made last-minute demands that would have undermined Canada’s sovereignty.
While the trade war has escalated in recent weeks, Carney said at an investment summit in Toronto on Tuesday that if a “mutually beneficial deal” on trade with the White House emerges, Canada stands “ready to develop that and pursue it.”
“It has to be one that there’s clear alignment of interests, and a sequencing that is consistent with implementation,” Carney told a Tuesday news conference.
U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on nearly $28 billion worth of Canadian goods in August. Ottawa replied with retaliatory tariffs on American products.
Trump also has ordered bans on imports of Canadian-made liquor and a handful of dairy products that will take effect Sept. 29.