Brain rot is getting worse....

Trump’s new 50% tariffs on Canada risk igniting a fresh trade war

By Elisabeth Buchwald

President Donald Trump is invoking a 1930 trade law to impose whopping 50% tariffs on certain Canadian goods, threatening to reignite a trade war with the United States’ second-top trading partner.

The impacted Canadian goods range from electric equipment, such as refrigeration, to machinery, according to annexes of three proclamations Trump signed on Monday. The tariffs, which the administration says cover $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, wouldn’t take effect for 30 days.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford immediately encouraged Canada to retaliate. “If these tariffs proceed, Canada should respond tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar,” Ford, who has already been advocating for steeper retaliation against other US tariffs, said in a post on X.

Trump cited Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, a law that allows a president to tariff goods up to 50% without congressional approval when a country is believed to be discriminating against American goods. However, the law has never been applied this way.

Last week, Trump threatened higher tariffs on Canadian goods as punishment for wildfire smoke drifting over the border into much of the United States. However, a senior administration official told reporters on Monday that the new tariffs are unrelated. “The president has other options on that,” the official said.

The new import levies are a response to alleged discrimination against American motor vehicles, alcohol and dairy, the official said said.

Excluded from the latest round of tariffs are several key Canadian imports, including energy products, critical minerals, fish and other goods that are subject to industry-specific duties, such as cars and metals.

However, unlike other levies Trump has enacted against Canada, there will be no carve-outs for goods covered by the trade pact known as the United-States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is currently under negotiation.