Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Saturday that retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods will take effect on Sept. 8.
“Let me be clear: We take this step reluctantly, reluctantly because we recognize that some of these measures will raise costs and reduce choice for Canadians,” Carney said during a press conference on Aug. 22.
The retaliatory tariffs were announced less than 24 hours after the United States imposed 50 percent tariffs on certain goods made in Canada, following the failure to reach a trade deal.
Carney said that by “rejecting a bad deal,” he remains confident that this path forward is in the “best interest of Canada.”
Both nations blamed the other for new demands that upended the talks.
Carney alleged that in the hours before the trade deal collapsed, the United States attempted to “restrict our ability to have other trade deals.”
“We're the partner of choice, in many respects, for countries around the world, and the Americans wanted to restrict that,” Carney said. “They had language that they wanted to restrict. Unacceptable.”