President Trump announced Friday he would place reciprocal tariffs on Canadian dairy and lumber if Ottawa does not drop its rates.
“Canada has been ripping us off for years on tariffs for lumber and for dairy products, 250%,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “Nobody ever talks about that, 250% tariff, which is taking advantage of our farmers. So that’s not going to happen anymore.”
“They’ll be met with the exact same tariff unless they drop it, and that’s what reciprocal means,” the president added. “And we may do it as early as today, or we’ll wait till Monday or Tuesday, but that’s what we’re going to do.”
US stocks briefly plummeted as a result of the president’s latest duty announcement, but were back in positive territory as of early Friday afternoon.
The president had already signed an executive order over the weekend directing federal agencies to ease restrictions on lumber production and expediting logging.
Trump said the US government would be freeing up protected forests “on an emergency basis,” since Canada’s lumber satisfies about 25% of American lumber demand.
Friday’s announcement came amid ongoing tense relations with Canada, with the president threatening to make the country America’s 51st state and repeatedly mocking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “governor.”
The president has vowed to hold countries to the same tariff rates they impose on the US. With Canada, Trump has threatened to levy sky-high tariffs several times, asking for the northern neighbor to both drop their tariff rates and impose stricter protection on the northern border.
On Thursday, Trump signed two executive orders pausing tariffs on some Canadian and Mexican goods covered by a trade agreement he made with both countries in his first term in office.
The pause was implemented after Trump had phone calls this week with both Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum — and after he initially slapped 25% across-the-board tariffs on both countries Tuesday.
