These levies include multiple ag items
A new set of Canadian tariffs against U.S. products came into effect at midnight Sept. 8.
These tariffs, ranging from 15 to 50 per cent, are in response to the United States placing duties on about $28 billion of Canadian products earlier on.
Canada’s tariffs include a wide scope of items including pulp and paper, electronics, and other goods “that are most impacted by U.S. tariffs,” a government backgrounder says.
Multiple ag products are included in the new list.
Some dairy goods, like milk, for example, will face a 50 per cent tariff.
Cheese will be taxed at 25 per cent. Sweeteners like honey and molasses coming from the U.S. will also face a 25 per cent tariff, and some machinery parts will be hit with a 15 per cent tariff.
Canadian farmers are concerned about how these tariffs will further affect operations.
“Farmers from (this) end of the country to the other are feeling the pinch of higher costs (ex diesel). Now we are expected to pay a tariff/duty on agriculture parts from the (U.S.). More loans won’t solve the problem,” Christopher McLaughlin, a farmer from New Denmark, N.B., said on X on Sept. 7.
He attached his comment to a post from Alberta farmer John Kowalchuk who expressed frustration due to the higher costs, and feeling like a pawn in a chess game between Canada and the U.S.
American farmers could feel the effects too.
With steel and aluminum part of the new tranche of Canadian tariffs, parts for ag equipment in the U.S. could rise in price as well.
“A tariff can hit the same component more than once,” Jayash Paudel, an associate professor of economics at the University of Oklahoma, told Wisconsin Public Radio. “It ends up raising the machinery cost for American farmers, even though the tariff is Canadian.”
The trade war between the border countries has escalated since Canada walked away from the table on Aug. 21 after the U.S. allegedly “asked for too much and offered too little,” Prime Minister Carney said.
Since then, Conservatives have called on the prime minister multiple times to release the details of the proposed agreement.
“We’re asking for the prime minister to be straight up,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said on Sept. 7.
As of Sept. 8, the federal government hasn’t released any part of the trade deal.
The prime minister did, however, release a “Forward Guidance” video about the current situation with the U.S., and how Canada can withstand ongoing challenges.