1) Trump hits Canada with 35 per cent tariffs

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Kelly Geraldine Malone, August 1, 2025

Canada was hit with 35 per cent tariffs on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump followed through on his threat to increase the duties if Ottawa didn’t make a trade deal.

The White House has said the tariffs would not affect goods compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, commonly known as CUSMA.

Prime Minister Mark Carney had tempered expectations of an agreement by Friday, saying Ottawa will only agree to a deal “if there’s one on the table that is in the best interests of Canadians.”

Carney has described the talks as complex, comprehensive and constructive.

Trump, meanwhile, has complained repeatedly about America’s northern neighbour.

“I think Canada could be one where they just pay tariffs – not really a negotiation,” he said last week.

Trump signed the executive order Thursday night to slap Canada with the increased duties. A fact sheet from the White House justified the rate change saying Canada “failed to cooperate in curbing the ongoing flood of fentanyl” and also pointed to Ottawa’s implementation of retaliatory tariffs.

In a statement from Carney, released just after midnight, he said the government was disappointed by the actions, and said that “Canada accounts for only 1% of U.S. fentanyl imports and has been working intensively to further reduce these volumes.” 

He added that some industries — including lumber, steel, aluminum and automobiles — will be harder hit, but that the government will try to minimize the impact and protect Canadian jobs. 

Trump has repeatedly delayed his tariff deadlines but his trade agenda saw some successes in the leadup to Friday’s deadline. This week, he announced deals with the European Union, South Korea and Pakistan — although many details of the agreements remain unclear.

Frameworks for trade deals with the U.S. have been announced for Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and the United Kingdom. All of those nations are facing some level of baseline tariff.

The president on Thursday gave Mexico a 90-day extension on its trade negotiations but did not extend a similar offer to Canada. 

In a separate executive order Thursday, Trump increased his so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs on many other nations, with those duties to be implemented in seven days. 

Trump’s 50 per cent tariffs on semi-finished copper also came into effect just after midnight, but the latest duty exempts the raw input material.

The copper tariffs are landing on top of a growing list of U.S. sectoral duties, which include duties on automobiles, steel and aluminum.

Reaction to the tariffs has been swift, with Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing saying in a statement that the White House’s fact sheet was “fact-less.”

“More fact-less tariff turbulence does not advance North American economic security. Businesses — in Canada and the U.S. — urgently need certainty,” said Laing.

About 80 to 90 per cent of Canadian goods might be able to avoid Trump’s higher tariffs because they comply with CUSMA’s rules of origin, said Michael Dobner, the national leader of economics and policy practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada.

That doesn’t mean all of those exporters have filed the necessary paperwork to avoid the duties, he added.

It’s not clear exactly how much of what Canada exports to the United States is CUSMA-compliant.

While no industry can be singled out as the one most at risk, Dobner said, any business that must use many parts sourced outside North America is in jeopardy of increased duties.

Canadian Federation of Independent Business president and CEO Dan Kelly said many small- and medium-sized businesses are worried about facing the brunt of the duties.

They may not have the financial flexibility to change their inputs to North American products easily, or have the capacity to quickly get the paperwork to show CUSMA compliance.

The federation’s data shows that, so far, most small businesses are absorbing some or all of the costs associated with Trump’s tariffs, under the assumption that Canada will find some sort of solution.

“Is 35 per cent going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back?” Kelly said.

Kelly said if Canada remains in “no man’s land” on Friday, Ottawa should release funds collected by retaliatory tariffs to help struggling businesses.

Both Kelly and Dobner said that while the increase in tariffs will be terrible for some businesses, the larger concern for all industries is the ongoing uncertainty that has put a chill on investment.

“Generally speaking, even without that increase, there has been a bit of a freeze in investment in Canada,” Dobner said.

2) (Updated) Trump signs executive order pushing tariffs on Canada to 35 per cent

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Kelly Geraldine Malone, July 31, 2025.

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order pushing tariffs on Canada to 35 per cent beginning on Friday, following through on a threat to raise duties if Ottawa didn’t make a trade deal. 

The White House confirmed the tariffs would not hit goods compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, commonly known as CUSMA.

A fact sheet from the White House said Canada “failed to cooperate in curbing the ongoing flood of fentanyl” and also pointed to Ottawa’s implementation of retaliatory tariffs.

Canadian officials had been tempering expectations that a trade deal would materialize ahead of Trump’s deadline and Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he’ll only make an agreement that is good for Canada.

Trump said earlier Thursday he had not “spoken to Canada” but did say that “he’s called” — suggesting Carney may have reached out hours before the 35 per cent tariff was set to hit . 

The Canadian Press has contacted Carney’s office for confirmation but has not yet received a response.

Trump dampened the prospect of a deal with Canada in a post on social media early Thursday morning that said it would be very hard to make a deal with Canada after Carney announced Wednesday that Ottawa intends to recognize a Palestinian state.

Trump told reporters at the White House Thursday he “didn’t like that” but that it was “not a deal-breaker.”

When asked about the holdup in Canadian negotiations, Trump said “they have to pay a fair rate.” The president also misrepresented agricultural duties, complained about Canadian military spending and said Canada has been treating the United States badly for years.

While Trump didn’t mention fentanyl, the White House fact sheet focused on the drug to justify increasing the tariffs.

“Given Canada’s continued failure to arrest traffickers, seize illicit drugs, or coordinate with U.S. law enforcement and Canada’s retaliation against the United States for the President’s actions to address the unusual and extraordinary threat to America, further presidential action is necessary and appropriate to protect American lives and the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” the White House said.

U.S. government data shows a miniscule amount of fentanyl is seized at the border with Canada compared to Mexico. 

Ottawa responded to Trump’s concerns of cross-border trafficking with a $1.3 billion boosted border plan.

Ottawa appointed a “fentanyl czar” and announced a Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl trafficking and money laundering, and deployed additional helicopters and drones along the border.

Trump announced a 90-day extension on trade talks for Mexico Thursday after a phone conversation with President Claudia Sheinbaum. He said it was because the “complexities of a Deal with Mexico are somewhat different than other Nations because of both the problems, and assets, of the Border.”

“Additionally, Mexico has agreed to immediately terminate its Non Tariff Trade Barriers, of which there were many,” Trump said. “We will be talking to Mexico over the next 90 Days with the goal of signing a Trade Deal somewhere within the 90 Day period of time, or longer.”

While Trump continued to claim in posts on social media that tariffs are making “America GREAT & RICH Again,” the president’s main tool for realigning global trade faced some sharp questions from federal appellate judges in court Thursday morning.

The Trump administration’s lawyer argued in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that there are still checks and balances on the president’s powers and he has the authority to use a national security statute to impose duties — despite the fact that the word “tariff” is found nowhere in the International Economic Emergency Powers Act of 1977.

The act, usually referred to by the acronym IEEPA, gives the U.S. president authority to control economic transactions after declaring an emergency. No previous president had ever used it for tariffs and the U.S. Constitution reserves power over taxes and tariffs for Congress.

Members of the 11-judge panel on Thursday repeatedly questioned the Trump’s administration’s justifications for using IEEPA to implement the so-called “Liberation Day” and fentanyl-related tariffs

“If the president says there’s a problem with our military readiness and he puts a 20 per cent tax on coffee, that doesn’t seem to necessarily deal with (it)” said Chief Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore.

Thomas Berry, with the Washington-based Cato Institute, said in a media statement that “based on the tenor and questions of the arguments, it appears that the challengers have the better odds of prevailing.”

The Cato Institute, which opposes the IEEPA tariffs, provided the hearing with an amicus brief — a legal submission from a group that’s not party to the action.

No decision was issued from the bench Thursday and a White House spokesperson has said the case is expected to go before the Supreme Court.

— With files from The Associated Press

3) As Trump’s trade deal deadline approaches, his tariffs face legal pushback in court

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Kelly Geraldine Malone, July 27, 2025

Donald Trump’s plan to realign global trade faces its latest legal barrier this week in a federal appeals court — and Canada is bracing for the U.S. president to follow through on his threat to impose higher tariffs.

While Trump set an Aug. 1 deadline for countries to make trade deals with the United States, the president’s ultimatum has so far resulted in only a handful of frameworks for trade agreements.

Deals have been announced for Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and the United Kingdom — but Trump indicated last week that an agreement with Canada is far from complete.

“We don’t have a deal with Canada, we haven’t been focused on it,” Trump told reporters Friday.

Trump sent a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney threatening to impose 35 per cent tariffs if Canada doesn’t make a trade deal by the deadline. The White House has said those duties would not apply to goods compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade.

Canadian officials have also downplayed expectations of a new economic and security agreement materializing by Friday.

“We’ll use all the time that’s necessary,” Carney said last week.

Countries around the world will also be watching as Trump’s use of a national security statute to hit nations with tariffs faces scrutiny in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled in May that Trump does not have the authority to wield tariffs on nearly every country through the use of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act of 1977.

The act, usually referred to by the acronym IEEPA, gives the U.S. president authority to control economic transactions after declaring an emergency. No previous president had ever used it for tariffs and the U.S. Constitution gives power over taxes and tariffs to Congress. 

The Trump administration quickly appealed the lower court’s ruling on the so-called “Liberation Day” and fentanyl-related tariffs and arguments are set to be heard in the appeal court on Thursday.

The hearing combines two different cases that were pushing against Trump’s tariffs. One involves five American small businesses arguing specifically against Trump’s worldwide tariffs, and the other came from 12 states pushing back on both the “Liberation Day” duties and the fentanyl-related tariffs.

George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin called Trump’s tariff actions a “massive power grab.” Somin, along with the Liberty Justice Center, is representing the American small businesses.

“We are hopeful — we can’t know for sure obviously — we are hopeful that we will continue to prevail in court,” Somin said. 

Somin said they are arguing that IEEPA does not “give the president the power to impose any tariff he wants, on any nation, for any reason, for as long as he wants, whenever he feels like it.”

He added that “the law also says there must be an emergency and an unusual and extraordinary threat to American security or the economy” — and neither the flow of fentanyl from Canada nor a trade deficit meet that definition.

U.S. government data shows a minuscule volume of fentanyl is seized at the northern border.

The White House has said the Trump administration is legally using powers granted to the executive branch by the Constitution and Congress to address America’s “national emergencies of persistent goods trade deficits and drug trafficking.”

There have been 18 amicus briefs — a legal submission from a group that’s not party to the action — filed in support of the small businesses and states pushing against Trump’s tariffs. Two were filed in support of the Trump administration’s actions.

Brent Skorup, a legal fellow at the Washington-based Cato Institute, said the Trump administration is taking a vague statute and claiming powers never deployed by a president before.

The Cato Institute submitted a brief that argued “the Constitution specifies that Congress has the power to set tariffs and duties.” Skorup said there are serious issues with the Trump administration’s interpretation of IEEPA.

“We don’t want power consolidated into a single king or president,” he said.

It’s expected the appeals court will expedite its ruling. Even if it rules against the duties, however, they may not be immediately lifted.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said the Supreme Court should “put an end to this.”

There are at least eight lawsuits challenging the tariffs.

Canada is also being hit with tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles. Trump used different powers under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to enact those duties.