Canada’s retaliation against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs “should come as no surprise” to Washington, Finance Minister Francois-Phillipe Champagne said on Thursday.
At a joint press conference with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Champagne was asked if Canada was concerned that the U.S. may escalate the trade war as a result of Canada’s counter-tariffs, which are set to go into effect on Sept. 8.
“We’re standing up for our workers, our industry and our businesses. And that should come as no surprise to our American partners,” Champagne said.
“We will always defend, the economic sovereignty of Canada. We’ll always defend our industries.”
The U.S. has reversed its position on discoverability and bilingual labelling, U.S. Canada Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said on Thursday.
“Canada welcomes that the U.S. is now withdrawing its positions on discoverability and labelling and is confirming that measures to promote French language and Canadian culture will not be subject to future U.S. trade actions,” LeBlanc said.
Canada will look forward to “constructive U.S. clarifications on their other positions which would create the possibility of a mutually beneficial trade agreement that respects Canadian sovereignty,” he said.
A day after talks collapsed, Prime Minister Mark Carney said last-minute demands by the U.S. on the discoverability of Canadian content on streaming platform and bilingual labelling had emerged as a non-negotiable sticking point for Canada.
On Tuesday, Trump had denied making those demands.
“I would never interfere with Canadians speaking French! In fact, I have never even thought of doing such a stupid thing,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“This lie was made up by a weak and ineffective Prime Minister in an attempt to gain political support, which he has totally lost, from the people of Quebec. I love French Canadians!”
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Canada made the decision to walk away from the negotiating table “for political purposes.”
“It didn’t happen for math. The math was sensational. It was a great deal,” he told reporters Thursday.
He also denied wanting to put in provisions that would restrict the use of the French language.
“This is manufactured and that’s why the president put out a truth saying it was a complete lie,” Lutnick said.
Canadian businesses continue to weather Trump’s latest duties while they await the planned reprisal from Ottawa to take effect.
Canada removes seafood from planned counter-tariffs
Late Wednesday evening, Finance Canada issued a statement saying it had been receiving feedback from Canadian industries and is making some adjustments to the list of counter-tariffs.
Canada’s response, spelled out on Tuesday, includes raising tariffs on American steel and aluminum products from 25 to 50 per cent.
The federal government will also impose tariffs ranging from 15 to 50 per cent on hundreds of other U.S. exports, including clothing and apparel, appliances, and dairy products.
In this case, the statement said that to protect against broader economic harm, seafood and fish products have been removed from the list, but no further details were released.
Removing tariffs on U.S. seafood products was “in Canada’s best interests,” Champagne told reporters Thursday.
United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has stated on several occasions that if there is further Canadian retaliation, the Trump administration will not sit idly by and take it.
–with files from Canadian Press