A trade war between the U.S. and Canada got more complicated this weekend with comments from President Donald Trump and a surprise move from China.
In a Friday Truth Social post, Trump said that Canada is “cheating the United States Farmers,” citing tariffs of more than 200% on milk, butter and cheese from the U.S. outside of a limited quota.
“These sky high Tariffs are part of Canada’s unfair, long-standing policy to shield domestic producers from foreign competition, especially in Agriculture,” said Trump. “Our Great U.S. Dairy Farmers deserve fair treatment from Canada. Enjoy it while you can!”
Per a CNN report, Canadian trade minister Mary Ng pushed back on Trump’s comments and said his claim that Canada was “ripping off” the U.S. was “not true.” The outlet also noted that Trump threatened even more tariffs on Canada, including a 250% tariff on dairy.
This week, the U.S. imposed new 25% tariffs on all products coming into the U.S. from Mexico and Canada. Trump has characterized them as both part of a plan to reduce illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking as well as to square away with what the president has described as unfair tariff policies from other countries and to help create more jobs in the U.S. He did give some reprieve to the tariffs by Thursday, CBS News reported.
Canada responded to the tariff news by announcing its own tariff plan to impose 25 cent tariffs on $155 billion in goods imported from the U.S., starting with $30 billion in goods. Products included poultry, beverages, soaps, butter, milk and more – there were 1,265 items on the list overall.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also called the U.S. tariffs “dumb.”
In addition to tariffs on Canada and Mexico, Trump also issued tariffs on goods from China, and China responded with their own tariff increases. China then announced tariffs on $2.6 billion worth of Canadian agricultural and food products on Saturday, according to Reuters.
This move was a retaliation “against levies Ottawa introduced in October,” said the outlet. It also opens “a new front in a trade war largely driven,” by Trump’s tariff plans, Reuters added.
With the arrival of the tariffs, consumers in the U.S. are concerned about price increases after already dealing with years of inflation. Trump tried to quell these concerns Friday during remarks from the Oval Office, though he did say earlier in the week that the tariffs could lead to some temporary price disturbances before they bring about the increase in U.S. jobs he is hoping for.
CNBC noted this week that markets have been down since Trump took office due in part to economic uncertainty.
“The market is having trouble digesting the multidimensional chess that Trump and his team are playing,” said Michael Block, a market strategist at Third Seven Capital cited by the outlet. “This multidimensional chess game is not going well for the grand master. There may be a method to the madness. He might be trying to confuse world leaders. But the market is saying stop confusing us. We don’t like this.”