(Updated) Trudeau says the U.S. launched a ‘very dumb’ trade war and Canada is fighting back

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By David Baxter, March 4, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to escalate the trade war he launched with Canada even further Tuesday, just hours after his first punishing round of import taxes on all Canadian goods took place.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Trump’s imposition of a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian energy and 25 per cent tariffs on all other Canadian goods “dumb” and said Canada is fighting back.

“Now, it’s not in my habit to agree with the Wall Street Journal, but Donald, they point out that even though you’re a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do,” Trudeau said at an Ottawa press conference, addressing Trump directly by his first name.

He said Canada is immediately introducing 25 per cent retaliatory tariffs on $30 billion worth of American products, and will expand them to cover another $125 billion in U.S. goods in 21 days.

Trump then responded to Trudeau’s remarks, threatening to introduce even more tariffs on Canada in a post on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns.

“Please explain to Governor Trudeau, of Canada, that when he puts on a Retaliatory Tariff on the U.S., our Reciprocal Tariff will immediately increase by a like amount!” Trump wrote, referencing his repeated insistence that Canada would be better off if it just becomes a U.S. state.

Trudeau also said that Canada will file claims with the World Trade Organization and through the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Agreement to push back on the U.S. tariffs.

The tariffs were framed initially as a U.S. response to fentanyl trafficking and border security. Trudeau said that Canadian efforts on border security have been “well received” by American officials and Trump has lost his legal pretext for starting an “unjustified” trade war.

“The one thing (Trump) has said repeatedly, that what he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that will make it easier to annex us,” Trudeau said, adding Canada will never become a U.S. state.

“He can do damage to the Canadian economy and he started this morning. But he is rapidly going to find out, as American families are going to find out, that that’s going to hurt people on both sides of the border.”

In an earlier post on Truth Social Tuesday, Trump said if companies move to the U.S., they won’t face the tariffs.

Trudeau said that opponents like Russia want to see normally friendly nations fighting each other.

“So today, the United States launched a trade war against Canada, their closest partner and ally, the closest friend,” he said.

“At the same time, they’re talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing (Russian President) Vladimir Putin, a lying, murderous dictator. Make that make sense.”

The prime minister said he would like to see how American citizens feel about the Trump administration “jettisoning” friends and allies in favour of “a country that has never wished Americans well and continues to act in ways that harm the global economy, and specifically the American economy and American values.”

Trudeau said the federal government will be there to support Canadians through measures like enhancing employment insurance “no matter the cost.” He did not announce specific measures to protect weakened Canadian businesses from potential takeovers.

The president’s executive order hitting Canada and Mexico with the across-the-board tariffs took effect at 12:01 a.m. ET.

Stock markets in Canada and the U.S. fell at the start of trading Tuesday, continuing the plunge that began late Monday after Trump confirmed tariffs were coming.

As of early Tuesday afternoon, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 442.97 points at 24,558.60.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 601.29 points at 42,589.95. The S&P 500 index was down 69.14 points at 5,780.58, while the Nasdaq composite was down 110.95 points at 18,239.24.

Trudeau said that he will be meeting with the premiers Tuesday afternoon to talk about potential non-tariff responses. Trudeau said some provinces are looking at blocking American companies from bidding on publicly funded contracts. Quebec Premier François Legault said his province will impose penalties on U.S. companies that bid on provincial government contracts and Ontario Premier Doug Ford is banning American companies from bidding on provincial contracts altogether.

Ford also said he will be imposing 25 per cent export tariffs on electricity the province ships to the United States, and will cut off those exports altogether if Trump’s tariffs remain in place into April.

Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba are removing American booze from provincial liquor store shelves.

“I’ve spoken to governors, senators, congressmen and women from every region, both Democrats and Republicans, they know, they tell me these tariffs are a massive mistake,” Ford said Tuesday.

Canadian officials and premiers made a month-long diplomatic push in Washington after Trump originally signed the executive order, which tied the duties to the illegal flow of people and drugs across the northern border.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows the number of people and drugs crossing illegally into the United States from Canada is minuscule compared to the volume coming across the southern border. It reports just 13.6 grams of fentanyl seized by northern Border Patrol staff in January.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said that the federal government should have been doing more to fight fentanyl trafficking and secure the border without pressure from Trump.

Poilievre added that the government should treat counter-tariffs as a means to reduce taxes.

“The obvious place to start is to get rid of the Liberal carbon tax, then axe the sales tax on new homes. We need to reverse the Liberal capital gains tax hike and slash income tax so that hard work pays off,” Poilievre said.

He added that Canada should fast-track pipeline projects to get natural resources like liquefied natural gas to non-American markets and remove “all red tape” on home building to boost Canadian softwood lumber demand.

Trump said he also plans to implement 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports coming into the U.S. on Mar. 12. These duties would be imposed on top of any existing tariffs.

— With files from Kelly Malone in Washington, Lauren Krugel in Calgary, Catherine Morrison and Craig Wong in Ottawa and The Associated Press.

(Updated) Trudeau says Trump’s tariffs are ‘unjustified,’ vows that Canada will respond

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Kelly Geraldine Malone, March 3, 2025

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports set to kick in Tuesday are “unjustified” and vowed that Canada will retaliate with counter-tariffs and other measures. 

In a news release late Monday, Trudeau said if U.S. tariffs come into effect as Trump planned, Canada will respond with 25 per cent tariffs on $155 billion worth of American goods.

Canada’s response will start with tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods immediately, with tariffs on the remaining $125 billion on American products following 21 days later.

“Our tariffs will remain in place until the U.S. trade action is withdrawn, and should U.S. tariffs not cease, we are in active and ongoing discussions with provinces and territories to pursue several non-tariff measures,” Trudeau said. “While we urge the U.S. administration to reconsider their tariffs, Canada remains firm in standing up for our economy, our jobs, our workers, and for a fair deal.”

Trudeau is set to hold a press conference Tuesday morning along with Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Public Safety Minister David McGuinty.

U.S. President Donald Trump said 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, with a lower 10 per cent levy on Canadian energy, will start Tuesday, tipping the continent into a trade war.

“No room left for Mexico or for Canada (to make a deal),” Trump said at the White House on Monday.

Trump’s executive order to implement economy-wide tariffs was delayed for a month after Canada and Mexico agreed to introduce new security measures at the border.

A White House official confirmed on background Monday that the wording in the executive order means the tariffs kick in at midnight.

The order initially tied the tariffs to the illegal flow of people and drugs across the borders — but Trump previously said the delay would allow time for an “economic” deal.

“What they’ll have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case you have no tariffs,” Trump said Monday while speaking about the tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

Trump later added that deadly fentanyl continues to flow into the United States from Canada, Mexico and China.

In his statement, Trudeau said there is “no justification for these actions.” 

“While less than one per cent of the fentanyl intercepted at the U.S. border comes from Canada, we have worked relentlessly to address this scourge that affects Canadians and Americans alike,” Trudeau said, highlighting the government’s $1.3 billion border plan.

Trudeau said the tariffs would cause Americans to pay more for groceries, gas and cars and “potentially lose thousands of jobs.”

“Tariffs will disrupt an incredibly successful trading relationship,” Trudeau said. “They will violate the very trade agreement that was negotiated by President Trump in his last term.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said if the levies go into force, Ottawa will revive its previously announced plan for retaliatory tariffs. 

“We are ready,” Joly said as she entered a Canada-U. S. cabinet committee meeting in Ottawa earlier on Monday.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said his province also would retaliate by removing American alcohol from Liquor Control Board of Ontario shelves and ripping up a $100-million deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to provide Starlink internet service in remote areas.

Ford also repeated his threat to shut off the electricity Ontario supplies to several U.S. states.

“If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything, including cut off their energy, with a smile on my face,” he said.

Canadian officials and premiers made a month-long diplomatic push in Washington but it remains unclear what Canada could do to persuade Trump to drop the tariffs.

Joly said Canada has responded to the president’s concerns about the border. 

Canada named a new “fentanyl czar,” listed Mexican cartels as terrorist groups and launched a Canada-U. S. joint strike force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering. More helicopters and drones were launched and additional officers were tasked with guarding the border.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said earlier Monday that the Trump administration was using uncertainty as a bargaining tool and he hoped logic would prevail.

Many Canadian officials have said that Trump’s ongoing tariff threats are tied to an upcoming mandatory review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement. The continental trade pact was negotiated under the first Trump administration to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The president’s comments came just hours after a key member of his team said no decision had been made and tariff levels could still be lowered.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNN on Monday morning that Canada and Mexico had done a good job of enhancing border security but more needed to be done to stop the flow of fentanyl.

New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul told CNN that the small volume of drugs that may be coming across the northern border does not “justify the cataclysmic impact that tariffs will have.”

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data shows the number of people and drugs crossing illegally into the United States from Canada is minuscule compared to the volume coming across the southern border. It reports just 13.6 grams of fentanyl seized by northern Border Patrol staff in January.

Republican strategist Doug Heye said that “Trump wants to be able to declare a victory — regardless of what that victory may be — and is using tariff threats to leverage that victory.”

“But we know that should (the tariffs) go into effect, they become a de facto tax increase on American families who can ill afford higher costs on anything,” Heye added.

A report issued by the Peterson Institute for International Economics last month said Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China would cost the typical U.S. household more than US$1,200 a year.

Trump returned to the White House in January with a growing tariff agenda. On Monday, Trump said tariffs are “easy, they’re fast, they’re efficient and they bring fairness.”

He ordered 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States on March 12 and signed an executive order to implement “reciprocal tariffs” starting April 2.

Trump also floated the idea of imposing tariffs on automobiles and signed executive orders to look into levies on copper and lumber.

On Monday, he added agricultural products to his growing list of tariff targets.

“To the Great Farmers of the United States: Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States,” Trump posted on social media. “Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!”

– With files from Alison Jones in Toronto

(Updated) Ford urging Buy Ontario approach as tariffs loom, says he may legislate it

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Allison Jones, March 3, 2025

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is adding Buy Ontario legislation to the list of measures he is considering in the face of expected tariffs from the United States.

Speaking at a mining conference in Toronto just days after winning a third majority government, Ford said he is prepared to follow through on previously announced retaliatory steps if tariffs take effect, but is also considering ways to boost domestic procurement.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday would be the day he puts tariffs of 25 per cent on Canadian goods, with a lower 10 per cent levy on energy, though he has moved the deadline a few times already.

The impending tariffs and Trump’s talk of annexing Canada has inspired a wave of patriotism and Ford said he loves seeing people in stores look at labels to see if a product is made in Canada before buying it.

“I’m asking politely until I implement it – every retail store, when you go look at the shelf…we need to see a Canadian flag on that price,” Ford said Monday. 

“So please, please work with us, or we’re going to legislate it. And start onshoring goods from – you’re bringing (goods) around the world – there’s nothing we can’t build here in Ontario, absolutely nothing.”

Ford also noted that aside from his proposal to prioritize Ontario products in the $30 billion worth of procurement the government does each year, municipalities source their own goods.

“I know all 444 municipalities are on board, but we’re going to make sure we legislate it, that you’re buying Ontario first, Canada second,” Ford said.

“I get it. There’s some products you just aren’t able to get. I get it, but I’ll tell you one thing, we start shifting it, (Americans) are going to feel the pain.”

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” later in the day, Ford also said he would stockpile nickel.

“We’ll respond strongly, and we don’t want to,” he said. “On the critical minerals, I will stop shipments going into the U.S. for nickel. It will shut down manufacturing.”

Earlier Monday, Ford reiterated that he is prepared to follow through with previously announced measures to respond to tariffs, including removing American alcohol from Liquor Control Board of Ontario shelves and ripping up a $100-million deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX for Starlink internet in remote areas.

Energy Minister Stephen Lecce also said Ontario is looking at a surcharge on every megawatt of energy the Americans buy from the province, though he did not indicate a specific amount.

Ford also repeated a threat to cut off the electricity Ontario supplies to several states.

“We’re going to use every tool in our toolbox,” he said. 

“If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything, including cut off their energy with a smile on my face.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2025.

From Alaska to Maine, communities that border Canada worry U.S. tariffs come at a personal cost

Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press

By Dee-ann Durbin and Sally Ho, March 2, 2025

At the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, a quote from former President Ronald Reagan is engraved on one wall.

“Let the 5,000-mile border between Canada and the United States stand as a symbol for the future,” Reagan said upon signing a 1988 free trade pact with America’s northern neighbor. “Let it forever be not a point of division but a meeting place between our great and true friends.”

But a point of division is here. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump plans to impose a 25% tariff on most imported Canadian goods and a 10% tariff on Canadian oil and gas. Canada has said it will retaliate with a 25% import tax on a multitude of American products, including wine, cigarettes and shotguns.

The tariffs have touched off a range of emotions along the world’s longest international border, where residents and industries are closely intertwined. Ranchers in Canada rely on American companies for farm equipment, and export cattle and hogs to U.S. meat processors. U.S. consumers enjoy thousands of gallons of Canadian maple syrup each year. Canadian dogs and cats dine on U.S.-made pet food.

The trade dispute will have far-reaching spillover effects, from price increases and paperwork backlogs to longer wait times at the U.S.-Canada border for both people and products, said Laurie Trautman, director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University.

“These industries on both sides are built up out of a cross-border relationship, and disruptions will play out on both sides,” Trautman said.

Even the threat of tariffs may have already caused irreparable harm, she said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has urged Canadians to buy Canadian products and vacation at home.

The Associated Press wanted to know what residents and businesses were thinking along the border that Reagan vowed would remain unburdened by an “invisible barrier of economic suspicion and fear.” Here’s what they said:

Skagway, Alaska-Whitehorse, Yukon

People flocked from the boomtown of Skagway, Alaska, to Canada’s Yukon in search of riches during the Klondike gold rush of the late 1890s, following routes that Indigenous tribes long used for trade.

Today, Skagway trades on its past, drawing more than 1 million cruise ship passengers a year to a historic downtown that features Klondike-themed museums. But the municipality with a population of about 1,100 still holds deep ties to the Yukon.

Skagway residents frequently travel to Whitehorse, the territory’s capital, for a wider selection of groceries and shopping, dental care, veterinary services and swimming lessons. The Alaskan city’s port, meanwhile, still supports Yukon mining and is a critical hub for fuel and other essentials both communities need.

“It’s a special connection,” Orion Hanson, a contractor and Skagway Assembly member, said of Whitehorse, which sits 110 miles (177 kilometers) north and has 30,000 people. “It’s really our most accessible neighbor.”

Hanson is concerned about what tariffs might mean for the price of building supplies, such as lumber, concrete and steel. The cost of living in small, remote places already is high. People in Whitehorse and Skagway worry about the potential impact on community relations as well as prices.

Norman Holler, who lives in Whitehorse, said the months the tariffs have loomed created “an uncomfortable feeling and resentment.” If the threat becomes reality, Holler said he would probably still visit Alaska border towns but not other parts of the United States.

““Is it rational? I don’t know, but it satisfies an emotional need not to go,” he said.

– Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska

Point Roberts, Washington-Delta, British Columbia

At the border of Washington state and British Columbia, the tension over tariffs is evident in a waterfront community that is hoping for Canadian mercy.

Point Roberts is a 5-square-mile (13-square kilometer) U.S. exclave whose only land connection lies in Canada, which supplies the unincorporated nub of American soil its water and electricity. It’s a geographic oddity that requires a 20-mile drive around Canada to reach mainland Washington state.

Local real estate agent Wayne Lyle, who like many of his neighbors has dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship, said some of Point Roberts’ roughly 1,000 residents are signing a petition pleading with British Columbia’s premier for an exemption to whatever retaliatory tariffs Canada may institute.

“We’re basically connected to Canada. We’re about as Canadian as an American city can be,” Lyle said. “We’re unique enough that maybe we can get a break.”

Lyle, who serves as the president of the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce, said it’s too early to identify measurable effects, but he fears Canadians won’t visit the popular summer getaway destination out of spite.

“We don’t want Canada to think we’re the bad guys,” Lyle said. “Please don’t take it out on us.”

– Sally Ho in Seattle

Billings, Montana-Alberta

The 545-mile (877-kilometer) stretch of land that separates Montana from Canada includes some of the sleepiest checkpoints on the binational border. Several of the state’s border posts had fewer than 50 crossings a day on average last year.

But unseen, in underground pipelines that cut through vast fields of barley, flows about $5 billion annually worth of Canadian crude oil and natural gas, most of it from Alberta. The lines traverse a continental pivot point — Montana is the only state with rivers that drain into the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Canada’s Hudson Bay – and deliver to refineries around Billings.

“Canada is one of our major supply sources for oil across the United States,” said Dallas Scholes, the government affairs director of Houston-based refinery company Par Pacific, which runs a processing facility along the Yellowstone River. “If tariffs are imposed on the oil and gas industry, … it’s not going to be good for consumers.”

People in Montana drive long distances given its sprawling size and burn lots of natural gas through harsh winters, making its residents the highest energy consumers per capita in the U.S., according to federal data.

That means a 10% tax on Canadian energy resources would be felt broadly. The state’s farmers would be among those hit more severely, given the large volumes of gasoline needed to run tractors and other equipment, according to Jeffrey Michael, director of the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

“It will be painful, but there are larger concerns if I were an agricultural producer in Montana,” Michael said. “I’d be worried about the trade war escalating to where my products start to get hit with reciprocal tariffs.”

– Matthew Brown in Billings, Mont.

Detroit-Windsor, Ontario

The Detroit River is all that separates Windsor, Ontario, from Detroit. The cities are so close that Detroiters can smell the drying grain at Windsor’s Hiram Walker distillery and Windsor can hear the music drifting from Detroit’s outdoor concert venues.

Manufacturing muscle makes the Ambassador Bridge, the 1.4-mile-long span connecting the two cities, the busiest international crossing in North America. According to the Michigan company that owns the bridge, $323 million worth of goods travel each day between Windsor and Detroit, the automotive capitals of their countries.

The U.S., Canada and Mexico have long operated as one nation when it comes to auto manufacturing, noted Pat D’Eramo, CEO of Vaughan, Ontario-based automotive suppler Martinrea. Tariffs will cause confusion and disruption, he said.

Right now, steel coils arrive at a plant in Michigan and get stamped into parts that are shipped to Martinrea in Canada. Martinrea uses the parts to build vehicle sub-assemblies that get shipped back to an automaker in Detroit.

It’s unclear if parts would be taxed twice if they crossed the border multiple times, and if suppliers or their customers will have to pay for the tariffs. Also unclear is how a separate 25% levy on steel and aluminum that Trump said would take effect starting March 12 factors into the mix.

D’Eramo understands the impulse to strengthen U.S. manufacturing but says the U.S. doesn’t have the capacity to make all the tooling Martinrea would need if it were to shift production there. At the end of the day, he thinks it’s sad tariffs will take up so much time, energy and resources, and only make vehicles even more expensive.

“We need to be spending our time and money to get more efficient and reduce our costs so customers can reduce their costs,” he said.

-Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit

Buffalo, New York-Ontario

Buffalo, New York is, decidedly, a beer town. It’s also a border town.

That makes for a complementary relationship. Western New York’s dozens of craft breweries rely on Canada for aluminum cans and much of the malted grain that goes into their brews. Canadians regularly cross one of the four international bridges into the region to shop, go to sporting events and sip Buffalo’s beers.

Brewers and other businesses fear there may be less of that, though, if the tariffs on Canada and aluminum go into effect. Trump’s repeated comments about making the neighboring nation the 51st U.S. state already offended its citizens – so much so that Buffalo’s tourism agency paused a campaign running in Canada because of negative comments.

“Obviously, having a bad taste in their mouth and booing the national anthem at sporting events is not a great thing for them coming down here and drinking our beer and hanging out in our city,” said Jeff Ware, president of Resurgence Brewing Co.

The historic factory building housing Ware’s business in Buffalo is about 4 miles from the Peace Bridge border crossing, where 1.8 million cars and buses and 518,000 commercial trucks entered Buffalo from Ontario last year.

It’s a terrible time to alienate customers, Canadian or American. The snowy first months of the year are hard enough for Buffalo’s breweries, Ware said. Higher prices from 25% tariffs would be yet another obstacle. Ware gets about 80% of the base malt be uses to make his specialty beers from Canada.

“Labor is more expensive, energy is more expensive, all of our raw ingredients are more expensive,” he said. “It’s death by a thousand cuts.”

– Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, N.Y.

Cutler, Maine-New Brunswick

Commercial lobsterman John Drouin has fished for Maine’s signature seafood for more than 45 years, often in disputed waters known as the “grey zone” that straddle the U.S.-Canada border.

The relationship between American and Canadian fishermen can sometimes be fraught, but harvesters on both side of the border know they depend on each other, Drouin said. Maine fishermen catch millions of pounds of lobsters every year, but much of the processing capacity for the valuable crustaceans is in Canada.

If Trump follows through with the threatened tariffs next week, lobsters sent to Canada for processing would be subject to customs duties when they return to the U.S. to go to market. Drouin fears what will happen to the lobster industry if the trade dispute persists and Canada enacts a retaliatory tariff on lobsters.

“As the price goes up to the consumer, there comes a point where it just doesn’t become palatable for them to purchase it,” Drouin said.

Drouin, 60, fishes out of Cutler, Maine, and sees Grand Manan Island, an island in the Bay of Fundy that is part of the province of New Brunswick, when he takes his boat out. He described his business as “right smack on the Canadian border” in terms of both economics and geography.

He described himself as a fan of Trump’s first term who is “not overly thrilled with what he’s been doing here.” And he said he’s concerned his home state could ultimately be hurt by the tariffs if the president isn’t mindful of border industries such as his.

“The rhetoric is a bit much, what’s taking place,” Drouin said.