Canada warns of retaliation against Trump's possible tariffs, targets US goods

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly has said her country would retaliate should the U.S. impose tariffs on Canadian goods.

Asked how Canada can avoid tariffs, Joly did not answer directly, saying “my job ultimately is to make sure that we address the two issues that President Trump has raised, which is first and foremost, the border and fentanyl,” Caliber.Az reports via Canadian media.

According to a senior government source, Canada has a three-round retaliation planned, which would start by singling out a small list of American-made consumer products such as Kentucky bourbon and Florida orange juice.

Local officials underline that less than one per cent of the fentanyl in the U.S. comes from Canada.

This targeting would be followed by tariffs on a longer list of U.S. goods worth $37 billion, and then if needed, Canada would hit an additional $110 billion in manufacturing and other products with trade action.

Let us recall that in late November, Trump threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico on Day 1 of his second term. Trump initially used the flow of illegal migrants and drugs over the border as the rationale for imposing the steep tariffs, but later shifted his rhetoric to praising the use of tariffs on their own merit.

In response, the federal government unveiled a $1.3-billion border plan, which includes a new aerial task force for surveillance between ports of entry and additional human resources. But so far, Ottawa has received no assurances from the Trump administration that its border plan is enough to avoid tariffs.

By Khagan Isayev