Canada announced on Friday that it will remove billions of dollars’ worth of retaliatory tariffs on US goods, marking a significant step to ease months of economic tensions with Washington.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said the Canadian government would lift the 25 per cent tariffs imposed on a wide range of American products since March, with the change set to take effect September 1. However, Ottawa will maintain reciprocal duties on steel and aluminum imports.
“I’m announcing today that the Canadian government will now match the United States by removing all of Canada’s tariffs on US goods, specifically covered under [the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement],” Carney told reporters.
The move represents the latest turn in a trade battle sparked in March when US President Donald Trump slapped tariffs as high as 25 per cent on Canadian exports. Ottawa retaliated in kind, targeting US steel, auto parts, and other goods, though some measures were later softened amid pressure from Washington and Canadian businesses.
A senior US official, speaking anonymously, said the decision followed recent discussions between Canadian representatives, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and White House officials. “They were told retaliatory tariffs were not helping their standing to negotiate something with Trump,” the official said.
Carney, who won April’s federal election pledging to defend Canadian interests while steering the country through trade turbulence, has so far resisted calls to escalate the tariff fight further. Instead, he has sought to balance firmness with pragmatism as Trump’s trade agenda roiled cross-border commerce worth more than C$1.3 trillion annually.
The two leaders spoke by phone Thursday about the bilateral relationship. While Ottawa had hoped to resolve the dispute by July 21, that deadline passed without agreement.
The White House welcomed Canada’s announcement. “We welcome this move by Canada, which is long overdue. We look forward to continuing our discussions with Canada on the Administration’s trade and national security concerns,” an official said Friday.
Carney defended the decision, arguing Canada still enjoys “the best trade deal with the United States” under the updated USMCA framework. Asked whether Ottawa had received assurances from President Trump that the tariff rollback would prompt renewed negotiations, Carney responded: “Yes.”
