President Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. would raise tariffs on certain Canadian goods from 25 percent to 35 percent beginning Friday.
Goods that are covered under the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement will be exempt from the tariff rate, the White House said.
The White House announced the increase hours before higher tariff rates on several countries were set to go into effect. Canada is among the United States’s top trading partners.
“Canada has failed to cooperate in curbing the ongoing flood of fentanyl and other illicit drugs, and it has retaliated against the United States for the president’s actions to address this unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States,” the White House said in a fact sheet.
Trump earlier this year imposed a 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada, citing frustrations that the countries had not done enough to curb the flow of fentanyl into the United States. Experts have noted relatively little fentanyl crosses into the U.S. via the northern border compared with the southern border.
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The president earlier this month threatened to raise tariffs on Canada to 35 percent, again citing the fentanyl issue.
Trump late Wednesday said Canada’s decision to recognize the Palestinian state complicated efforts to broker a trade agreement.
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Trump has for months railed against Canada, claiming the U.S. has no need for Canadian goods and musing about annexing Canada as the 51st state.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and other Canadian leaders have flatly rejected that suggestion and asserted that the two nations work better together as partners.
