SerpApi.Org
Trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada escalated sharply Monday -- and this time, it had nothing to do with Canadian smoke blanketing the air in the northern U.S.
President Donald Trump signed proclamations at the White House announcing a 50 percent tariff on certain goods from the Great White North, citing "continued discrimination" against U.S. products.
And while the tariffs don't go into effect for 30 days, their impact on relations was immediate.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who's government has had a rocky relationship with Trump, issued a statement on the social media platform X on Monday calling Trump's move "the latest in a series of unilateral U.S. trade actions that began with the U.S. imposing a series of tariffs in direct violation of the Canada-United States-Mexico agreement (CUSMA), the free trade agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico."
He declared that Canada, "as is its right, has merely matched those measures."
A statement published by the White House on Monday painted a different picture of Canadian actions.
It cited Canadian quotas and restrictions on numerous U.S. products that are not applied to other countries' exports to Canada.
With automobiles, for instance, according to the statement, "Canada imposes certain tariffs and quotas on cars imported to Canada from the U.S., but not on imports from other countries. Canada also administers these quotas in a way that compels U.S. auto companies to invest in production in Canada instead of the United States."
The White House statement cited Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in imposing the stiff tariff.
"Section 338 empowers the President to impose tariffs when a country disadvantages U.S. exporters relative to the exports of another country to offset the disadvantage or burden on U.S. commerce," the statement declares.
According to Politico, the section has never been used before to impose tariffs.
One international trade attorney told the publication that Trump's tariffs are almost certain to face a legal fight.
“Section 338 is a discrimination provision and very broad in scope, but it’s never been used [for tariffs] and will be challenged in court,” Ryan Majerus, a partner at the Atlanta-based King and Spalding law firm, wrote in an email, Politico reported.
“This seems geared toward gaining leverage in the USMCA negotiations currently underway between the U.S. and Mexico.”
Monday's announcement came only three days after Trump used a post on the social media platform Truth Social to threaten tariffs against Canada for huge clouds of smoke from the country's wildfires billowing south over American soil. (A similar situation occurred last year.)
"Canada has refused to engage in basic Forest Management and Debris Removal, knowing that such refusal will lead to exactly this result," Trump wrote.
"This is Willful Negligence, and becoming a yearly occurrence, costing the United States Billions of Dollars, which cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying."
Canadian officials, meanwhile, blame "climate change" for the fires.
"Warmer, drier weather is becoming more common, increasing wildfire risk in Canada and around the world,” Eleanor Olszewski, Canada's minister for emergency management, said in a statement, according to The New York Times.
“Northern Ontario and Quebec, for example, received less than 40 percent of normal precipitation this June, with temperatures above historical averages.”
Trump, however, has a well-documented history of skepticism when it comes to "climate change" policies.
