CNN
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President Donald Trump late Thursday threatened a 35% tariff on goods imported from Canada, a dramatic escalation in an on-again, off-again trade war with America’s northern neighbor and one of its most important trading partners.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the new tariffs would apply to all Canadian goods or if Trump’s threat applied only to the limited number of goods on which the United States currently levies tariffs.
Trump’s announcement of higher tariffs on Canada comes amid a flurry of letters Trump has sent to world leaders over the past week informing them what rates their goods will be tariffed at come August 1, absent any trade deals. Trump has sent nearly two dozen such letters.
NBC News also reported Thursday that Trump told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that the remaining US trading partners that have not yet received trade letters or reached framework agreements will be charged a blanket tariff rate.
“We’re just going to say all of the remaining countries are going to pay, whether it’s 20% or 15%. We’ll work that out now,” Trump said, according to NBC News.
The Thursday actions are the latest examples of a whipsaw policy that’s left investors, trading partners, businesses and everyday Americans alike scrambling to make plans even as the economic ground shifts not just from week to week but in some cases from hour to hour.
Trump’s letter to Canada comes after he sent more than 20 letters to countries this week informing them what rates their goods will be tariffed at come August 1, absent any trade deals.
But Canada is by far the largest trading partner with the United States to receive a letter from Trump this week.
Canada is the top buyer of US exported goods, importing $349 billion worth last year, according to Department of Commerce data. Tariffing Canadian goods could, therefore, backfire if additional retaliatory tariffs are put in place on American goods. (Trump threatened to respond to any such tariffs by raising rates on Canadian goods.)
Meanwhile, Canada shipped $413 billion worth of goods to the US last year, the third-highest source of foreign goods.
Back and forth tariffs
But Canada has been the subject of Trump’s scorn since before he took office. In November 2024, just a few weeks after the election, Trump pledged 25% tariffs on all products from Canada and Mexico on his first day in office “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”
A day before those tariffs were set to go into effect in February, Trump paused them for 30 days. They went into effect March 6, but Trump exempted goods that were compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada agreement that he negotiated and signed during his first term in office. That significantly blunted the impact of the tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
On March 7, Trump threatened new tariffs on Canadian lumber and dairy products.
“Canada has been ripping us off for years on lumber and on dairy products,” Trump said in an Oval Office address that day, citing Canada’s roughly 250% tariff on US dairy exports to the country. Trump said America would match those tariffs dollar-for-dollar. But the tariffs were never implemented.
Last month Trump – once again – threatened to hike taxes on Canadian goods over a retroactive digital services tax that was set to take effect, which would have fallen heavily on American tech companies that did business in Canada. In the 11th hour, Canada indefinitely postponed the tax in an effort to continue trade talks and avoid higher tariffs.
And, throughout, he has often waxed poetic about his desire to see Canada become the 51st state – a proposition Canada has vehemently, and repeatedly, rejected.
In Thursday’s letter, Trump mentioned the fentanyl issue, one of his original reasons for tariffing America’s northern neighbor. However, it’s unclear the extent to which Canada is responsible for enabling the drug to reach America.
“If Canada works with me to stop the flow of Fentanyl, we will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter. These Tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country,” Trump said in the letter.
He also claimed Canada has non-tariff barriers that are contributing to the trade deficit the US runs with it.
“You will never be disappointed with The United States of America,” Trump added, a line which he’s included in all his letters to heads of state this week.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
