World News
Canada sets 8 September for dollar for dollar tariffs after talks collapse
By Staff Writer | 23 August 2026
Washington put 50 per cent duties on roughly 20 billion dollars of Canadian goods on Saturday morning. Ottawa's answer covers steel, appliances, agricultural equipment, paper and electronics.
Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on United States goods from 8 September, matching the American measures dollar for dollar, the prime minister Mark Carney said on Saturday. He spoke in Ottawa a few hours after the duties took effect, the two sides having failed to close a deal before a revised deadline expired at midnight Eastern time.
They asked too much and offered too little
Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada
The Canadian response was described as a focused one rather than a broad match of every American line. It will fall on steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, paper and electronics. The American duties that took effect on Saturday morning cover a different list, including wine, furniture, dairy products, cement, clothing, fishing rods and hockey equipment.
How the talks failed
Negotiators worked through the week and both sides had signalled at points that agreement was close. The original deadline of Wednesday was postponed with hours to spare. Canada's trade minister for the United States, Dominic LeBlanc, told reporters on Thursday that a deal was very close. It did not arrive.
We pursued every opportunity to reach an agreement that protects Canadian workers and their families, that strengthens our economy and that respects Canadian sovereignty
Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada
He said the step was taken reluctantly, and pointed to late changes in the American terms.
In recent days, the United States proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits for Canada and called into question the reliability of any deal
Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada
Pressed for detail, he pointed to eleventh hour changes on car imports and to language restricting Canada's freedom to strike trade agreements with other countries. He said Canada had been willing to drop its remaining retaliatory tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars if the United States lowered its own. The duties were first announced on 20 July.
The United States trade representative, Jamieson Greer, said no further talks with Canada were planned and that Washington would be moving forward with measures in response to the Canadian countermeasures.
What it means for construction supply chains
Three of the affected categories matter directly to anyone buying materials or plant across the border. Steel and aluminium sit on the Canadian side of the account, cement on the American side, and agricultural and industrial equipment on both. A 50 per cent duty is not a margin that a supplier absorbs, so it reaches the price of the goods, and from there it reaches contracts already priced on the old figure.
The date to note is 8 September. Anyone with an order due to cross the border in the next fortnight has two weeks in which the Canadian measures are announced but not yet in force, and the American ones already are. Contracts written on a fixed price with no change in law or duty provision will carry that risk on the party who has to buy. It is worth reading the clause now rather than when the invoice arrives.