The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, April 9, edition that the federal government announced that its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. vehicles will take effect early Wednesday. The Globe's Steven Chase and Jeff Gray write that this marks an escalation in the Canada-U.S. trade war amid the federal election campaign and could raise prices of U.S.-made autos by up to 25 per cent. These are the first tariffs imposed by Prime Minister Mark Carney. Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced that retaliatory auto tariffs would take effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Wednesday, following Mr. Trump's imposition of tariffs on foreign-made automobiles, including those from Canada. Ottawa had promised this response but had not acted until Tuesday s announcement. A trade dispute in the North American auto sector will increase costs for consumers and threaten the industry's integrated supply chain across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The government said duties collected will be used to benefit the Canadian auto sector. Vehicle imports from the U.S. totalled $35.6-billion in 2024, Finance Department said. Last week, Mr. Carney estimated these retaliatory tariffs would collect $8-billion on an annual basis.
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