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Canada already had tariffs on certain U.S. goods before the recent trade disputes escalated in 2025. Historically, Canada has maintained tariffs on various American products to protect its domestic industries, particularly in sectors like agriculture and manufacturing. For example, under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (USMCA), which replaced NAFTA and was signed during Donald Trump’s first term, trade between the U.S. and Canada is largely tariff-free for many goods. However, Canada has long imposed high tariffs on specific U.S. products outside of these agreements, such as dairy, poultry, and eggs, under its supply management system. These tariffs can reach up to 270% on milk, 245% on cheese, and nearly 300% on butter, designed to shield Canadian producers from foreign competition.\n\nAdditionally, Canada has applied tariffs on other U.S. goods over the years, often in response to trade disputes or to balance economic interests. For instance, before the latest round of tariffs in 2025, Canada had tariffs on thousands of product categories, though the exact scope and rates varied depending on the goods and trade agreements in place. Posts found on X also highlight sentiment that Canada has had tariffs on U.S. products like dairy and cars for decades, with some claiming rates as high as 25% on U.S. vehicles—though this may reflect specific cases rather than a blanket policy.\n\nIn contrast, the U.S. generally did not impose broad tariffs on Canadian goods until recent actions under President Trump, who introduced a 25% tariff on Canadian imports effective March 4, 2025, prompting Canada to retaliate with reciprocal 25% tariffs on CA$155 billion of U.S. goods. This retaliation built on Canada’s existing tariff framework but escalated the scale significantly. So, while Canada did have tariffs on U.S. goods beforehand, the current trade war has intensified the situation far beyond the pre-existing measures

Well said. I love the USA, I have relatives who live there and in all the years of a beautiful relationship with the people of America I have never seen this situation. Mr. Trump you seem to want to conquer and divide relationships at any cost, even with people who care about you. You sabotage yourself and those who are loyal to you. I'm not sure if you understand the implications of your decisions. But I will say respectfully, there are no winners in a trade war, nor is it you that has the final say on the worlds outcome. This is God's world not yours and not ours. I'm really disappointed to see American people and Canadians hurting because of whatever the point of all of this means. But Canada is strong and we will stand up for our country. The American people are strong and they were strong before you became the President. Working together, we can take care of each other for our families and our country.

AMERICA IS FCKD!! You may be able to survive a trade war with Canada, you may be able to survive a trade war with Mexico and China, you may be able to survive sending millions of undocumented, necessary workers home but you can't survive it all at once.\n To make your situation even more dire you are busily alienating all your allies while sucking up to murderous dictators who will happily knife you in the back at the first opportunity. \nAll this because your country is full of stupid, hateful people who just couldn't stand the thought of a black female president. \nFAFO.

I am not a fan of PM Trudeau but on this occasion, I'm willing to flipflop. Oh, my goodness, it's so refreshing to hear a country leader speak a coherent sentence, a coherent thought structure, zero vanity tripping, berating opponents, finger-wagging, screeching accusations, tantrums. And then in a second language!!! Just because I'm not one of HIS fans, I am however a massive fan of Canada. I support Canada in this situation 100%. A trade war IS dumb, and even dumber with your closest ally and neighbor. Dumb and Dumber all in one go.... wowzah....so much winning?.

Trade War: a situation in which two or more countries raise import taxes and quotas (= limits on numbers of goods) to try to protect their own economies. From Cambridge Dictionary

Sir, with the upmost respect. Could you please not say Americans launched a trade war. I have no say, nor can I control what the idiots in the White House are doing. I am very very sorry for the situation and I am ashamed right now as an American.

Make That Make Sense. Here you go Trudeau. . If US aligns with Ukrain, as very very sad as this situation is, Trump would be declaring opposition with Russia. Then China aligns with Russia. Then WW3 starts on North American soil. Did Trump word everything right? Absolutely NOT. NOPE. However… I don’t want a war either. Trump should have just stayed out of it. \n\nLastly Trudeau you liar. You said “no one wins in a trade war…”. Yet you respond to tariffs with tariffs. You just started a trade war!!!! \n\nHow’s that for making sense enough for you!!

In 1930 American politicians decided to significantly increase tariffs \nand 25 other countries immediately responded by imposing significant tariffs\non American products and the trade war made the depression significantly worse.\n\nTrump's trade war won't likely lead to a depression but it will make things \nworse for almost everyone.\n\nExpect higher inflation, economic stagnation and also economic disruption \nas American companies can't suddenly and magically create new production \nto replace imports and can't do it as cheaply or they would already have been doing that\nand American exporters are going to face tariffs and sanctions imposed \non their products by other countries.\n\nThe extremely integrated car manufacturing industries in the United States, Canada and Mexico could be thrown into chaos.\nAn average car part crosses a border about 8 times during production.\nHow the heck do high tariffs deal with that standard car production situation?\n\nTrump would know all this if he thought about history or\nabout how the North American economy works or thought at all\nbut thinking is not something that appeals to Trump.\nInstead he just spouts out whatever random idea pops into his head \nand calls it policy.

The problem is simple. If its an issue of cost of living, while its true that it is very high, its very high across the industrialized world. That is because the causes influencing cost of living are not related to inside Canada but are being influenced by foreign actors which Canada has no control over. The Ukraine-Russia War for example is causing increases to food costs which are not easily overcome. The situation in the Middle East between Hamas and Israel threatens to spiral into a regional war and that threatens the oil supply and the present price for oil and gas. The Houthi have been making it hard to traverse the Red Sea which is forcing shipping to travel around Africa rather than directly through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea meaning those additional fuel costs get transferred over to the consumer. As for housing, while efforts to cool housing markets have been made, Canada's housing market is still relatively hot meaning the prices remain high in big cities. Its like a perfect storm. Increased costs on mortgages are an attempt to push down inflation but in the short term you are going to feel that as well. Also we are living in a transition period as the world sinks back to the older model of trade before before Bretton Woods in 1947 which is leading to a decoupling of product lines that at one time coming from Asia were cheap but are not more expensive because they are being made back in the home countries. Transitions do come with a price. Finally, add taxes which help to deal with health care, social programs and government services like embassies, foreign missions and the army well yeah its a perfect storm.\n\nI hope you have luck where you end up but do not for a minute assume that the grass is greener on the other side. Even Japan which attempts to keep certain costs low, has been forced to increase its national consumption taxes to offset overall costs. It isn't going to get cheaper but more expensive as we move back to the old trade model. However, as the world weans itself off of the World Trade Organization and the IMF, the world also re-opens the potential to a Great Depression because that was the reason Bretton Woods appeared in the first place. The world isn't going to get better but far worse.