WASHINGTON, 23 August, 2026 (News Desk): US President Donald Trump hit back at Canada on Sunday after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced retaliatory tariffs on the United States following a breakdown in trade negotiations. “Canada wants the benefits of being a state, without being one!!!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “They have also charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of tariffs. No more!!!” he said. Carney said on Saturday that new Canadian tariffs would take effect on September 8, notably targeting the US steel and dairy industries. New 50 per cent US tariffs impacting about $20 billion worth of goods, or 5.5 per cent of Canadian exports to the US, came into force on Saturday. The affected products range from hockey sticks to cement. “You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked,” Carney said a day earlier. The new Canadian tariffs will notably target the US steel and dairy industries and take effect on September 8. Carney said more details would be announced next week.
Trump had previously said Washington “should be able to have a deal with Canada,” citing his “good relationship” with Carney. But on Saturday, Canada’s prime minister said Trump had set conditions that were ultimately unacceptable, even though earlier talks had been positive. “In recent days, the United States proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair and undermined the net benefits for Canada, and called into question the reliability of any deal,” Carney said in Ottawa. “We cannot accept what they’ve offered, and we will not give what they’ve asked.” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told The New York Times on Saturday that the United States had offered to reduce its tariffs on steel, aluminium and automobiles, as well as eliminate a recently imposed tariff on Canadian lumber. Greer said those measures would have given Canada “the most preferential treatment of any trading partner,” according to The New York Times. Greer also told Fox News on Saturday that Washington was “moving forward with measures that respond to Canadian retaliation.” He said no new talks were planned with Canadian negotiators. A senior US official characterised this week’s talks in Washington as candid and not acrimonious.