Trump reacts to Canada hitting back at U.S. with tariffs on $29.8B worth of goods

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The federal government announced a plan on Wednesday to slap tariffs on $29.8 billion worth of American goods to hit back against U.S. President Donald Trump after he imposed punishing tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum early Wednesday morning.  Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/1.7481258  »»» Subscribe to CBC News to watch more videos: http://bit.ly/1RreYWS  Connect with CBC News Online:  For breaking news, video, audio and in-depth coverage: http://bit.ly/1Z0m6iX Follow CBC News on TikTok: https://bit.ly/3TnHioe Follow CBC News on Twitter: http://bit.ly/1sA5P9H Find CBC News on Facebook: http://bit.ly/1WjG36m Follow CBC News on Instagram: http://bit.ly/1Z0iE7O Subscribe to CBC News on Snapchat: https://bit.ly/3leaWsr  Download the CBC News app for iOS: http://apple.co/25mpsUz Download the CBC News app for Android: http://bit.ly/1XxuozZ  »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» For more than 80 years, CBC News has been the source Canadians turn to, to keep them informed about their communities, their country and their world. Through regional and national programming on multiple platforms, including CBC Television, CBC News Network, CBC Radio, CBCNews.ca, mobile and on-demand, CBC News and its internationally recognized team of award-winning journalists deliver the breaking stories, the issues, the analyses and the personalities that matter to Canadians.

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00:00Canadian officials have said over and over if the U.S. imposes tariffs on steel and aluminum,

00:06Canada would respond. Today, the federal government followed through.

00:10It delivered a direct blow of its own, 25% levies on billions in U.S. goods.

00:16Finance Minister Dominic Leblanc unspooled the details from Ottawa.

00:20The government of Canada, following a dollar-for-dollar approach, will be imposing

00:27as of 12.01 a.m. tomorrow, March 13, 2025, 25% reciprocal tariffs on an additional

00:38$29.8 billion of imports from the United States. This includes steel products worth $12.6 billion

00:49and aluminum products worth $3 billion, as well as additional imported U.S. goods

00:56worth $14.2 billion for a total of $29.8 billion.

01:04The CBC's Olivia Stavanovich joins us live from our Ottawa bureau. So, Olivia,

01:08break down the details of how Canada is responding.

01:12Well, Andrew, these new counter tariffs, these dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs worth

01:17$29.8 billion of U.S. goods is in addition to $30 billion the federal government previously

01:23announced targeting other American products. So, in total now, Canada is retaliating against

01:30more than $60 billion worth of U.S. goods in total. And these new measures that will kick in

01:36after midnight, they target American steel and aluminum products specifically,

01:41and also some other products that weren't on Canada's list before, including computers,

01:45sporting equipment, and also cast iron products. Now, federal ministers who made this announcement

01:51this morning in Ottawa noted that they don't want to do this because this will increase

01:56costs for Canadians who buy these U.S. goods, but they say they're left with no other choice

02:00but to defend these key Canadian industries. My dear friends, whether you're in Canada or

02:07in the United States, we cannot let uncertainty become the new certainty in North America.

02:13That cannot stand. That will make us less competitive. That's going to weaken us,

02:19and that's going to affect our economic security and ultimately our national security.

02:24Now, it is possible we may see even more countermeasures from Ottawa because of this

02:2925% tariff that the U.S. has now put in place against Canadian steel and aluminum,

02:34because ministers noted that this new tariff does not only target raw Canadian steel and aluminum,

02:39but products that contain Canadian steel and aluminum. So, we could see

02:43more announcements in the coming days. In the meantime, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Jolie

02:48had a specific message for Americans during the press conference. Let's take a listen.

02:54Please help us end these tariffs as quickly as possible, and please talk to your elected

03:01representatives at the federal, at the state and municipal level. Send the message to the White

03:08House. Working together, Canada and the U.S. have built a strong enough economy, and working

03:16together, we can bring down inflation and bring stability to the markets.

03:23Jolie also warned Canadians that this is going to be a day-to-day fight with the Trump

03:27administration, especially with more tariffs expected to kick in in April after this pause

03:34of 25% tariffs against most Canadian goods set to be over that month and just a couple weeks from

03:40now. And there could be more tariffs that the Trump administration puts in place against Canadian

03:45goods, including those on lumber, dairy and Canadian vehicles as well, Andrew.

03:50And Olivia, what else are federal ministers doing to get Canada's message across?

03:55Well, Jolie is heading to Charlevoix, Quebec, to meet with her G7 counterparts,

04:00who are also grappling with this new levy from the U.S. because it affects all steel and aluminum

04:05that's coming into the United States. Jolie says she will bring up the issue of tariffs in all of

04:10her discussions, including talks with the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Keep in mind,

04:16some of Canada's allies have already hit back, including the European Union, which announced

04:21$40 billion in retaliation against the U.S. today. And another meeting that we're watching closely

04:27is one that's going to take place tomorrow in Washington with the U.S. Secretary of Commerce

04:32Howard Lutnick. He's set to meet with Ontario Premier Doug Ford and two federal cabinet ministers,

04:38Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Finance Minister Dominic Leblanc.

04:43Now, Ford mentioned that this meeting is supposed to be about, in his view,

04:47the Canada-United States-Mexico agreement and renegotiating that deal. However,

04:52ministers dismissed that. Take a listen.

04:56It would be irresponsible not to take an opportunity to talk to Howard Lutnick about

05:02what we think is important to build a strong North American economy and why we think

05:09these continued tariff measures and the necessary and appropriate response that comes from Canada

05:16is not a constructive path to be on. If you're like racing to the basement,

05:20there's no real prize for being the first person to get to the basement. Like it's not,

05:24it doesn't feel like the path that we want to be on.

05:27Leblanc also said that Canada is not renegotiating this Canada-U.S.-Mexico

05:33agreement, especially at not at this time. It's up for review next year,

05:37and that's what the Canadian officials expect to happen, that these discussions will happen

05:40at that time. In the meantime, Ford was asked to respond to Leblanc's comments.

05:45Here's what he had to say.

05:47We're bang on. Tariffs equal USMCA, right? They're basically the same things. If we took

05:54the tariffs off, let's move forward. But I think the world of Minister Leblanc, we get along so

05:59well. We talk all the time and we're on the same page. But yes, there's going to be conversations

06:05about tariffs. And as we move forward, we're going to ask them to let's move this USMCA deal

06:10up as quickly as possible to give certainty to the world, not just Canada and the U.S.,

06:16but the entire world. Now, Ford had a breakfast meeting this

06:20morning with the prime minister designate Mark Carney. The two had this meeting just ahead of

06:26this high stakes meeting that Ford is having with Letnik tomorrow. Carney is not going to be in

06:31Washington for that meeting, and Carney is not, in fact, speaking with any members of the Trump

06:35administration before he's sworn in as prime minister. Carney said earlier today that he is

06:41open to speaking with Trump. However, he said he would do so only once the president shows respect

06:46for Canada. It's still not clear when Carney will be sworn in as prime minister. This is expected by

06:52the end of this week. We're still waiting for the exact date. Carney is then going to announce his

06:57new cabinet, which will then take the lead on this fight against Trump's tariffs going forward,

07:02even into the spring election, which is expected to be called soon, Andrew.

07:06Olivia, thank you. The CBC's Olivia Stefanovic, live in Ottawa,

07:11now moving south of the border to developments in the U.S. President Trump spoke this afternoon

07:16from the Oval Office with the Prime Minister of Ireland and had lots to say about tariffs.

07:21The CBC's Richard Madden joins us now live from Washington. So, Richard, what's the latest?

07:26Yeah, well, Trump's trade war has gone global with the European Union and Canada, of course,

07:31hitting back by slapping tariffs on U.S. products from Harley-Davidson to booze to

07:36clothing brands. And, of course, this comes as President Donald Trump slapped 25 percent tariffs

07:41on steel and aluminum. Now, today, he met with Ireland's Prime Minister at the White House,

07:46where we heard Trump defending his tariff agenda, insisting America will take back wealth, quote,

07:52stolen by other countries. Trump goes on to say he has the right to raise tariffs or lower them

07:58at the time of his choosing. And one example was his climb down yesterday to double steel and

08:03aluminum tariffs on Canada after Ontario Premier Doug Ford slapped electricity surcharges on

08:08electricity sold to northern U.S. states. Now, you'll recall Ford later agreed to suspend those

08:14surcharges after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick agreed to meet with him tomorrow.

08:19And Trump had his own thoughts on how this all went down. Watch this.

08:24We had a problem with Ontario and they dropped that. When I let them know what we were going

08:30to be doing, they dropped it immediately. So I'm glad because electricity shouldn't be playing with

08:34electricity. It affects people's lives there. They're actually their life. I mean, it can

08:39affect depending on whether it can affect their life. So we can't do that. And it doesn't make

08:45sense that our country allows electricity to be made in another country and sold into us.

08:51Who did that deal for the United States? OK, so, of course, who did that deal? Well, Trump did.

08:58He signed the USMCA deal in his first term. He called it the best deal ever. Now, that said,

09:04Ford and Lutnick will meet Thursday to discuss steps to renegotiate that trade deal along with

09:09tariffs. But we're also hearing Trump now adding to his list of grievances with the USMCA, hinting

09:16Canada's protected dairy sector may also be on the table or maybe chopping block

09:22for either renegotiation or targeted separately with tariffs. Listen to this.

09:27270 percent. Have you ever heard that we have tariffs on dairy products from Canada of 270

09:34percent going up to 400 percent? You never hear that Canada is absolutely one of the worst.

09:41And we when I say worst, worst in terms of charging tariffs.

09:47OK, so it should be said these percentages are not accurate. Trump is, of course,

09:52referring to a dairy quota system essentially, and he's citing levels that haven't been reached.

09:57But bottom line here is Canada's supply management system is problematic, not just for the US,

10:03but several other countries. We've heard it from France and New Zealand who complained

10:07they just can't get access to sell their butter or cheeses in Canada. So we'll be following next

10:13steps on the tariff front. But we're ultimately seeing that Trump's trade war is causing a lot

10:18of chaos and uncertainty on Wall Street. Markets are taking a beating as investors grow increasingly

10:24worried that tariffs could hurt consumer confidence, spending and possibly risk a recession.

10:29And Richard, as mentioned, a federal and Ontario delegation is meeting US Commerce Secretary Howard

10:35Lutnick tomorrow. What are you hearing on that? Yeah, we still don't have the full list of names

10:40of who will be in this delegation tomorrow. We do know it'll be Ontario Premier Doug Ford,

10:45perhaps some federal ministers with Commerce Secretary Lutnick and various trade representatives.

10:52So while it may on the surface seem like a de-escalation, the White House considers this

10:58a win. In essence, Americans won't get tariffed on Ontario's energy, yet the US is still

11:05hitting Canada's steel and aluminum industries with an extra 25% tariff that started today.

11:11Here's how Secretary Lutnick summed things up. And we're going to lower the temperature.

11:16You know, he thought he'd be sort of the big man and and tackle Donald Trump. But you know,

11:21you can't tackle Donald Trump. He is the most important, the smartest, the most capable leader

11:26in the world. And he's not going to let someone push him around. OK, so what to watch for, of

11:33course, Andrew, is will Canada or Ontario walk away from a win or will they spin it as, look,

11:39at least we've keep we're keeping the communications open. So that's something to

11:42watch for tomorrow. But the bigger thing to look ahead to, Andrew, is circular calendars, April

11:472nd. That is what the administration calls the big day when reciprocal tariffs will kick in,

11:53when the pause on other tariffs that that link to the USMCA were on pause for a month. Those

12:00are expected to kick in as well. So I would characterize this as the fact that the White

12:06House and Canadian delegations continue to talk is a positive sign. But the big concern is what

12:12happens at the end of the month. Richard, thank you. The CBC's Richard Madden in Washington.

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