U.S. President Donald Trump spoke after signing an executive order that drastically reduces the size of two national monuments in Utah and makes way for fossil fuel mining and extraction.
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Trump administration officials announced Monday that the United States is imposing 50% tariffs on a wide range of Canadian products in response to allegations of trade discrimination against multiple U.S. products and industries.
President Donald Trump on Monday signed three proclamations imposing hefty tariffs on various imports from Canada in response to separate regions that the United States says are being discriminated against, officials said on a call with reporters.
“With this, President Trump is leveling the playing field for important U.S. exports such as automobiles, alcohol and dairy products,” one of the officials said.
Officials said the tariff falls under Section 338 of the little-used Tariff Act of 1930 and is expected to take effect 30 days after it is signed.
Each declaration would impose tariffs on a variety of Canadian products “from wine to hockey sticks to cement,” according to officials who participated in the call.
“Canada must be held accountable for this continued discrimination,” the official said.
Canada’s status as a longtime close ally and trading partner of the United States has been shaken amid tensions, including President Donald Trump’s tariff-heavy policies and complaints about its trilateral trade agreement with Mexico.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it would not renew the trade agreement known as USMCA, choosing instead to cast a shadow over the pact’s future by initiating a series of annual reviews.
And last week, President Trump invaded Canada over wildfires in northwestern Ontario that are causing massive air pollution problems across large swathes of the United States.
President Trump claimed the issue has cost the United States billions of dollars, writing on Truth Social that these costs “necessarily need to be added to the tariffs Canada currently pays.”
A senior official clarified Monday that the newly announced 50% tariffs on Canadian goods are unrelated to the wildfires, but added that President Trump “has been asking for options on that.”
The Canadian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the new U.S. trade measures.
Section 338 gives the president the power to impose tariffs of up to 50% on goods from countries found to be discriminatory against the United States.
This vague tariff-setting authority “has been unused for decades,” John Veroneau and Katherine Gibson of the law firm Covington & Burling LLP wrote in a 2016 article. They found no public records related to Section 338 since 1949.
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