The Trump administration on Monday announced it will tack an extra 50% tariff onto a slate of Canadian imports, including wine and cement, claiming Canada is tilting the playing field against American products. Hockey sticks are affected, too. The move, set to kick in next month, leans on Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, a legal tool that's never been used before, Axios reports. Officials say Canada's response to President Trump's earlier tariffs—such as provinces yanking US liquor from shelves, auto rules seen as favoring Canadian production, and dairy policies said to benefit European cheese over US imports—helped trigger the new penalties.
The tariffs are not the ones Trump threatened to impose last week over the smoke from wildfires in Canada, though one official said those are still under consideration. Section 338 allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 50% on the goods of countries that are discriminating against the US, per CNBC. The duties will apply even to products that would normally be shielded under the now-uncertain US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, though key Canadian exports like potash, critical minerals, and most energy shipments are spared. The step follows a US Supreme Court ruling that curbed Trump's emergency tariff powers, pushing the administration to hunt for other legal pathways as it escalates tensions with one of America's main trading partners.
Trump signed three proclamations Monday enacting the tariffs in 30 days. The move could unleash a new wave of economic chaos, per the AP, risking higher inflation and further fraying of relations between two nations that had been closely woven together before Trump's return to the White House. An administration said Canada was one of the only nations that retaliated against Trump's previous tariffs and must be held accountable.
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