US sets 50% duties on selected Canadian imports
The White House says the duties, due in 30 days, target nearly $20bn in goods after accusing Ottawa of unfair treatment.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
3 min read
President Donald Trump has ordered 50 percent tariffs on a list of Canadian imports, a move the White House says will take effect in 30 days. The decision raises pressure on a major US trading relationship and adds new costs to goods ranging from alcohol to building materials.
According to a White House fact sheet cited by Al Jazeera, the affected products include wine, hockey sticks and cement. The duties also cover dairy products, swimming pools, furniture, fishing rods, seeds, clothing and wigs, among other items.
Products covered by the order
The Office of the US Trade Representative said the tariffs would apply to nearly $20bn in Canadian imports. That is about 5.2 percent of the $382bn in goods the United States imported from Canada in 2025, according to figures cited by Al Jazeera.
The White House said the new duties will not cover oil, gas, critical minerals, potash or products already subject to sector-specific tariffs. Washington already has tariffs in place on Canadian copper, aluminum and steel, ranging from 15 to 50 percent, as well as a 25 percent tax on non-US auto parts, according to Al Jazeera.
Trump invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which allows a president to impose punitive tariffs of up to 50 percent on countries found to discriminate against US goods. Al Jazeera reported that this marks the first recorded use of the provision in nearly a century.
Why Washington says it acted
The White House accused Canada of discriminatory treatment of US alcohol, auto and dairy products. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Ottawa had removed US alcohol from Canadian shelves, given European Union dairy products better access and capped some US vehicle exports from companies returning production to the United States.
Greer said the tariff order was meant to hold Canada responsible for retaliation and discrimination. The White House also said the Trump administration did not agree to renew the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in its current form because it considered the pact insufficiently beneficial for the US.
The administration said the new tariffs would apply even to products covered by the existing USMCA, known in Canada as CUSMA. Trump has also pointed to the US goods trade deficit with Canada, which Washington put at $46.4bn in 2025, with Canadian oil and gas described as the main driver of that gap.
Al Jazeera reported that Trump last week had threatened Canada with higher tariffs over wildfire smoke that reached parts of the United States.
Canada’s response
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the tariffs were the latest in a series of unilateral US trade actions and said they directly violated the trilateral trade agreement. In a statement posted on X, Carney said Canada had made detailed proposals to resolve the dispute and update CUSMA.
Carney said Canada was ready to intensify talks with Washington in the coming weeks. He also said the trade dispute had increased costs for families, especially in the United States, and that Canada remained prepared to address unresolved issues for the benefit of both countries.
Carney tried to negotiate with Trump last year, but Al Jazeera reported that talks ended abruptly in October after Ottawa ran an anti-tariff advertisement in the United States.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.