Lame duck Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada will respond to Donald Trump’s tariffs – which went into effect at 12:01am Tuesday – with some of their own.
Trump on Thursday promised to push ahead with plans to impose punishing tariffs on Mexico and Canada because he said drugs are still pouring into the U.S. from those countries.
Trudeau, who will leave office at some point this year after announcing he will not seek re-election, confirmed his country will fight fire with fire.
Canada will impose 25 percent tariffs on over $100 billion worth of U.S. goods for as long as the American tariffs remain in place.
It matches the 25 percent surcharge on goods from the border countries that will go into effect on March 4, Trump reiterated in a post on his Truth Social website Monday.
Canada will also place 10 percent tariffs on the country’s energy. The tariffs will begin taking effect in three weeks.
‘Let me be unequivocally clear – there is no justification for these actions,’ Trudeau said in a statement.
His actions follow Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s promise to also cast tariffs on Canadian goods.
Lame duck Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada will respond to Donald Trump’s tariffs – which go into effect midnight Tuesday – with some of their own
Trump on Thursday promised to push ahead with plans to impose punishing tariffs on Mexico and Canada because drugs are still pouring into the U.S. from those countries
Trudeau defended against Trump’s fentanyl claims, saying that less than one percent of the substance intercepted at the border comes from Canada.
He noted that fentanyl seizures from Canada have gone down 97 percent in the span of a month from December 2024 to January 2025 after appointing a ‘Fentanyl Czar’ and launching other measures.
‘Our tariffs will remain in place until the U.S. trade action is withdrawn, and should U.S. tariffs not cease, we are in active and ongoing discussions with provinces and territories to pursue several non-tariff measures,’ he said.
Trudeau reached out to the Trump administration to stop the tariffs but said that his country will stand up ‘for our economy, our jobs, our workers, and for a fair deal.’
‘Because of the tariffs imposed by the U.S., Americans will pay more for groceries, gas, and cars, and potentially lose thousands of jobs. Tariffs will disrupt an incredibly successful trading relationship. They will violate the very trade agreement that was negotiated by President Trump in his last term,’ he said.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump said earlier Monday he would impose an extra 10 percent duty on Chinese goods on March 4, doubling the tariff levied at the start of this month.
‘Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,’ Trump posted on his social media site.
Trudeau, who will leave office at some point this year after announcing he will not seek re-election, confirmed his country will fight fire with fire
Trump said earlier Monday he would impose an extra 10 percent duty on Chinese goods on March 4, doubling the tariff levied at the start of this month
‘A large percentage of these Drugs, much of them in the form of Fentanyl, are made in, and supplied by, China.’
Trump had delayed the tariffs after Canada and Mexico said they were taking border security seriously.
And in other cases, Trump has used the threat of charges to get his foreign policy way.
But he used his Truth Social post to say that time was running out.
‘We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled,’ he wrote.
‘China will likewise be charged an additional 10 percent Tariff on that date.’
His comments go some way to clarifying what he said a day earlier during his first meeting of the new Cabinet at the White House.
Then he seemed to suggest that the tariffs could be delayed for a month.
Trump used his Truth Social account to say that drugs were ‘still pouring into’ the U.S.
But other officials said that was for another tranche of tariffs, ‘reciprocal tariffs,’ matching duties imposed by other countries.
White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC that Trump would decide on his ‘tariff policy for all countries’ after a review expected on April 1.
The prospect of escalating tariffs and trade wars has already sent jitters through the global economy.
Consumers say they fear rising prices and are pessimistic about the economic outlook.
Canadian and Mexican officials are due to meet Trump administration counterparts in on Thursday and Friday to try to head off any additional tariffs.
Trump has taken an adversarial, often mocking attitude toward Canada since winning in November, with Trump suggesting he wanted to make the US’ northern neighbor the 51st state.
Sensitivities are at an all time high amid Trump’s repeated trolling of Trudeau about his desire to make Canada a state, insisting it is also the will of the Canadian public and referring to him as a ‘governor.’
Tamara Davidson, British Columbia’s minister of Environment and Parks, said constituents had raised the issue with her and she has requested Google update to clarify that these are ‘provincial parks.’
A Canada fan holds a flag during the last game of the Four Nations Face-off tournament in Boston earlier this month
‘We understand the concerns this has raised in the context of recent events – and let’s be clear, we will never be the 51st state,’ she said.
Canada is a country of roughly forty million people broken down into ten provinces and three territories.
If it were to become one massive state as Trump has been calling for, it would become the most populous state alongside California.
Trudeau has repeatedly hit back at the suggestion and maintains it will ‘never happen.’
‘Canadians define themselves a whole bunch of different ways, but one of the ways that we all use as shorthand is ‘we’re Canadian because we’re not American,” Trudeau said during a visit to Washington, DC.
‘That is not going to change.’
Trump’s plan has divided the neighboring nations, as seen during a recent hockey match between the United States and Canada.
Canadian fans booed the American national anthem in Montreal during the tournament and American fans returned the favor during ‘O Canada’ at the 4 Nations Face-Off final in Boston.
Justin Trudeau was roundly mocked after he celebrated Canada’s overtime victory against the United States with a brutal swipe at Donald Trump
The anthem itself was altered by a Canadian singer as a form of protest against Trump.
After Connor McDavid scored the game-winning overtime goal, Trudeau issued a defiant message to Trump and the United States: ‘You can’t take our country and you can’t take our game’ in English and in Quebecois French.
While some congratulated Trudeau on Canada’s victory, many slammed the prime minister for his response.
‘You won a hockey game. You lost your country.’