OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump today imposed tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico.
The president's executive order hitting Canada and Mexico with 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs, with a lower 10 per cent levy on Canadian energy, took effect at 12:01 a.m. ET.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to talk more about Canada's response - which will include tariffs on $155 billion in American goods - at 10:30 a.m. in Ottawa.
Here's the latest news (all times Eastern):
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11:07 a.m.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will be going ahead with 25 per cent retaliatory tariffs.
He says Canada also will challenge Trump’s actions by filing dispute resolution claims with the World Trade Organization and through the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on $155 billion worth of American goods, with $30 billion being applied immediately and the remaining $125 billion landing in 21 days.
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10:56 a.m.
Canadian Home Builders' Association CEO Kevin Lee says he's "very concerned" about the impact of U.S. tariffs on the pace of homebuilding in Canada.
He says the direct impact of tariffs would be "muted" on the industry, but the real hit would come from Canada's own retaliatory tariffs.
They could drive up construction costs and slow down the overall economy, dragging down the pace of housing starts.
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10:49 a.m.
New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt announces a $162-million response plan that includes supports for businesses hit hard by the tariffs.
The plan includes a $40-million program to help export-focused companies maintain staff and diversify their markets.
Holt says Trump’s “illegal, unjustified” tariffs will have heavy impacts in the province, where 92 per cent of exports go to the United States.
She says the duties will put an estimated 6,000 jobs in the province at risk.
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10:47 a.m.
Trump adviser Peter Navarro tells Fox News the tariffs were due to fentanyl and largely links the issue to China.
Navarro claims Mexican cartels have infiltrated Canada.
Navarro says the economy is in good shape, despite markets dramatically dropping as the duties came into force.
Navarro says Americans should “trust in Trump."
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10:46 a.m.
The Residential Construction Council of Ontario says U.S. tariffs will lead to price hikes for building materials and “substantially” increase the price tag on a new home in the U.S. and Canada.
The council says the residential construction industry is already “in dire straits due to a perfect storm of issues” and the tariffs will only make things worse.
It says American tariffs will make building materials more costly, leading to a further slowdown in construction activity.
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10:41 a.m.
Green party co-leaders Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault say in a media statement the U.S. tariffs are a direct attack on Canada.
They support the imposition of counter-tariffs on U.S. imports and call on all political leaders to unite and take immediate action to counter this aggression.
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10:38 a.m.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says in a social media post the province will be removing U.S. products from Manitoba Liquor Marts.
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10:30 a.m.
Chuck Schumer, Democrat minority Senate leader, says Trump’s tariffs will make everything more expensive for Americans.
He says that while tariffs can be useful tools when implemented precisely against adversaries, it makes no sense to start a trade war with America’s closest partners.
Schumer says less than one per cent of fentanyl that flows into the U.S. comes from Canada.
He says Trump is raising costs to cut taxes for billionaires – and the president broke his promise to fight inflation and decrease costs for Americans.
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10:22 a.m.
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey says the relationship between his province and the United States has been "unlawfully and unjustly harmed."
He says American products will be removed from Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation shelves and is calling on residents to buy Canadian-made products.
Furey also pledges to expand the province's export markets in Europe and beyond.
"We stand with Team Canada as we stand strong, together," he says. "Our identity, our values and our sovereignty will give us the strength to stand against any bully."
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10:17 a.m.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is calling for an emergency session of Parliament. He says he wants party leaders to come together to put in place measures that protect Canadian workers.
Singh says leaders should quickly deliver a package of measures that includes emergency support for affected workers and industries, investments in union jobs, and unanimous support for retaliatory tariffs.
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10:15 a.m.
Ontario's main liquor store has started removing U.S. alcohol from its shelves and website in response to tariffs imposed on Canadian goods.
Premier Doug Ford's office says he directed the Liquor Control Board of Ontario this morning to stop selling American alcohol.
Ford said Monday the LCBO buys about $1-billion worth of U.S. alcohol every year.
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10:15 a.m.
Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon says that employment insurance will be a significant part of the government's tariff response, but he doesn't expect it will be at the scale of COVID-19 pandemic supports.
Speaking in Toronto, MacKinnon says he expects the affects of the tariffs will be "slow rolling," unlike the immediate shutdown of the economy seen in the early days of the pandemic.
MacKinnon says that details of supports "tailor made" for the current crisis will be announced soon.
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10:13 a.m.
The Global Automakers of Canada says it’s concerned about the tariffs.
The organization’s president and CEO David Adams says tariffs hurt consumers with increased costs, drive inflation and unfairly harm workers on both sides of the border.
He says a long-term solution is needed to remove the “unjustified” tariffs and ensure “stability and competitiveness for all North American businesses.”
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9:59 a.m.
Republican John Thune, the Senate majority leader from agriculture-heavy South Dakota, is expressing some hesitancy abut the tariffs.
Thune says he and the president see the tariff issue through different lenses.
He says he believes Trump is trying to shut down fentanyl traffic with the devasting duties on Canada and Mexico.
“I think that the tariffs are, in my view, a means to an end – not the end itself,” he says. “And hopefully it’s something that can be temporary in nature.”
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9:49 a.m
The Nova Scotia Federation of Labour says the tariffs represent an unprecedented challenge to the province's workforce.
In a media statement, federation president Danny Cavanagh says Nova Scotia has thousands of workers employed in export-oriented industries, including lumber, seafood, Christmas trees, paper products and tires from three Michelin plants.
Those industries now face a severe competitive disadvantage in the U.S. market, he says, adding that the Nova Scotia government should provide employment insurance extensions, support programs for vulnerable exporters and provincial subsidies to help employers protect jobs if there is a prolonged economic downturn.
"These tariffs are not just numbers on paper; they represent an immediate threat to the livelihoods of thousands of Nova Scotian workers and their families," Cavanagh says.
9:56 a.m.
Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), says in a media statement that provinces and territories urgently need to work together to remove interprovincial trade barriers.
He calls on the federal government to recall Parliament and says the tariff money it collects should be returned to affected businesses.
Kelly also says he wants the government to pass legislation to ensure carbon tax rebates are tax-free, to increase the lifetime capital gains exemption threshold to $1.25M and to ensure the promised Canadian Entrepreneurs’ Incentive stays in place.
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9:48 p.m.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claims Tuesday’s tariffs are related to fentanyl trafficking.
He says it's not a “trade war” but a “drug war" and suggests Canada's efforts to boost border security haven't gone far enough.
“They've done a nice job on the border but they haven’t stopped the flow of fentanyl,” Lutnick told CNBC.
Asked if there's anything Canada and Mexico could do to remove the devastating duties, Lutnick says “if they can stop the flow of fentanyl and they can prove to the president they can stop the flow of fentanyl then, of course, the president can remove these tariffs.”
When asked about the fact that very little fentanyl is seized at the northern border, Lutnick says, "You got to be kidding me.
"It’s got to stop. And it’s got to stop really right away.”
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9:46 a.m.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston calls Trump a “short-sighted man” for imposing a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods.
Houston issues a statement saying Trump is wielding power for the sake of it. He says his Progressive Conservative government will respond by immediately barring American businesses from bidding on provincial contracts.
The premier says he is also looking into cancelling existing contracts with U.S. firms.
"It is impossible to properly describe the uncertainty and chaos that President Trump’s threat of tariffs and now actually imposing tariffs has caused for Canadians," Houston says in the statement.
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9:45 a.m.
Minister for Opportunities New Brunswick Luke Randall says his provincial government is offering New Brunswick businesses in sectors directly affected by tariffs loans of up to $5 million.
New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt says the sectors they expect will take the biggest tariff hit include agriculture, fisheries, forestry and manufacturing.
Holt calls on residents to come together in what will be a challenging time and to focus on buying New Brunswick products.
She says Trump’s “illegal, unjustified” tariffs will have a big impact in the province, where 92 per cent of exports go to the United States.
“These tariffs are an attack on Canada and on who we are, and they mark a turning point for our province and our country,” Holt says.
About half of New Brunswick's exports to the U.S. are refined petroleum products from the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John — the largest refinery in Canada.
An estimated 80 per cent of the vehicles in New England fill up with fuel refined in Canada.
Provincial Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Jean-Claude D’Amours says New Brunswick is ready to remove half of its interprovincial trade exceptions under provincial procurement rules.
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9:43 a.m.
Stock markets in Canada and the U.S. fell at the start of trading Tuesday, continuing the plunge that began late Monday after the U.S. confirmed tariffs were coming.
Canada's main stock index fell nearly 500 points in early trading, while U.S. stock markets also tumbled, adding to their losses Monday after Trump confirmed the tariffs.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 482.60 points at 24,518.97 after the tariffs came into effect at 12:01 a.m. ET, triggering a continental trade war.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 662.30 points at 42,528.94. The S&P 500 index was down 97.74 points at 5,751.98, while the Nasdaq composite was down 305.26 points at 18,044.93.
The Canadian dollar traded for 69.05 cents US compared with 69.31 cents US on Monday.
The April crude oil contract was down US$1.52 at US$66.85 per barrel and the April natural gas contract was up 34 cents at US$4.46 per mmBTU.
The April gold contract was up US$17.70 at US$2,918.80 an ounce and the May copper contract was down four cents at US$4.57 a pound.
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9:05 a.m.
Bea Bruske, Canadian Labour Congress president, says there are 1.5 million Canadian jobs on the line due to American tariffs.
In a media statement, she says that "urgent action" is needed to bring stability to "key industries." It's expected that the tariffs will have a heavy, rapid impact on Canada's automotive and manufacturing sectors.
Bruske says the government response needs to include "immediate support" for affected workers.
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9:00 a.m.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul says in a social media post that U.S. tariffs will inevitably bring retaliation from Canada, Mexico and China.
The senator says this will lead to higher prices for lumber, steel, aluminum, cars and homes in the U.S.
Paul says that tariffs will lead to lowered U.S. exports for agricultural products and bourbon - a key export in his home state of Kentucky.
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8:30 a.m.
Candace Laing, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, says that Trump's move to enact broad-based tariffs on Canada is forcing both countries toward a "recession, job losses and economic disaster."
Laing says it's time for Canada to "double down" on protecting its economic sovereignty and security and calls the push to remove interprovincial trade barriers a step in the right direction.
She adds that Trump is trying to revive a "failed economic model from the 1800s" with his tariffs and predicts that Americans will soon see the "disastrous impacts" at home.
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8:25 a.m.
Goldy Hyder, Business Council of Canada CEO and president, says the trade war will hurt workers, farmers and families across North America - especially in the U.S.
Hyder says that any trade issues should have been sorted out through mechanisms that exist in the Trump-negotiated Canada-U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Agreement.
Because that didn't happen, Hyder says that any Canadian response should be "strategic" to avoid compounding the harm and driving costs higher for Canadian families.
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8:00 a.m.
United Steelworkers union national director Marty Warren says Trump is trying to "crush Canadian workers" and force the government into "submission" with these tariffs.
Warren urges Ottawa to take immediate action to match the scale of the American "attack" on the Canadian economy, arguing Trump has made "false claims" about Canada being an unfair trading partner.
Trump has ordered an additional 25 per cent tariff on all steel and aluminum imports on Mar. 12, which would stack on top of existing levies.
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7:25 a.m.
Premier Houston says in a social media post that his province will block American companies from bidding on provincial contracts.
Houston adds that Nova Scotia is "actively seeking" options to cancel existing contracts until Trump removes the tariffs.
Other measures being enacted in Nova Scotia include removing American liquor from provincially run stores, working to remove interprovincial trade barriers and further developing natural resources.
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7:20 a.m.
Brian Kingston, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association president and CEO, says the tariffs will have "immediate" negative consequences for the North American vehicle supply chain.
Kingston says in a media statement the tariffs will reduce vehicle production, increase sale prices and lead to manufacturing job losses across the continent.
The auto manufacturing sector contributes over $18 billion to Canada's GDP, according to the association.
Kingston says that "every effort" should be made to remove tariffs as soon as possible.
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6:31 a.m.
Unifor national president Lana Payne says Trump has seriously misjudged the resolve and unity of Canadians, and he has misjudged how damaging this trade war will be for American workers.
The head of the union, which represents 320,000 workers, says the tariffs will hurt working people with higher prices for everyday goods, and destroy jobs on both sides of the border.
Unifor is calling on all levels of government and industry to step up and co-ordinate a response to the continued tariff threats on targeted Canadian industries.
Payne says Canada's trading relationship with the U.S. has forever changed.
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6 a.m.
A survey by KPMG finds two-thirds of Canadian business leaders polled say they can weather a trade war that lasts more than a year.
The report also says that 86 per cent support retaliatory tariffs against the United States.
Timothy Prince, the Canadian managing partner for clients and markets at KPMG in Canada, says the business community remains unwavering in its commitment to standing up for Canada.
The report is based on a survey completed last week of 602 business leaders from primarily mid-sized and large companies across Canada and industry sectors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2025.
The Canadian Press
