WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Canada’s minister responsible for U.S. trade, Dominic LeBlanc, said on Tuesday that he thought his government could announce retaliatory tariffs on the United States on Tuesday, a day after President Donald Trump threatened to raise U.S. tariffs on all cars and trucks from Canada to 50%.
“I think that’s the government intention,” LeBlanc said when asked on CNBC when the tariffs on goods imported from the U.S. might be announced.
“It shouldn’t surprise anybody. Our friends and the American administration, we said that if we didn’t get to a deal, we would have to take the steps that any responsible government would take to protect those sectors of the economy. Our preference was not to do that,” he said.
Trump on Monday threatened to raise U.S. tariffs on all cars, trucks and automotive parts from Canada to 50% starting January 1, 2027, escalating a trade fight after negotiations collapsed last week.
The trade deal on the table would have cut the top-line tariff rate on Canadian cars and light-duty trucks from 25% to 15% and the tariffs on aluminum and steel from 50% to 25%, but the deal fell apart on Friday over a number of points of contention, including whether the U.S. tariff relief would have applied to medium- or heavy-duty trucks.
The escalation threatens to disrupt one of the world’s most integrated auto supply chains. U.S. auto production is heavily reliant on Canadian-made parts and vehicles, and higher tariffs could raise costs for American automakers and consumers while deepening a trade standoff that has already weighed on auto stocks.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya, Katharine Jackson; editing by Michelle Nichols)
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