Trudeau meets with cabinet amid reports of 25 per cent U.S. tariffs

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OTTAWA —  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is meeting with premiers this afternoon, sources say, amid reports Canada is facing 25 per cent U.S. tariffs on Tuesday. 

Neither the Canadian government nor U.S. President Donald Trump has made an official announcement, but multiple media reports say Canada was informed earlier today that the U.S. will impose 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian imports, with the levy reduced to 10 per cent for energy.

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Trudeau has said that should the U.S. slap tariffs on Canada, Canada would retaliate.

Trade Minister Mary Ng posted on social media Saturday, saying “our message is clear: while we value our partnership with the United States, Canada is ready to respond firmly to any U.S. tariffs.”

Sources told the National Post that Trudeau was meeting today with his cabinet and later with the premiers, ahead of what is expected to be a public announcement this evening.

Trump has been threatening to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports since his re-election win in November, saying both countries had to stop the flow of migrants and fentanyl into the U.S.

Government officials say Canada is responsible for less than one per cent of each making their way into the U.S., but they have sought to reassure the Trump administration that the Canada-U.S. border is secure, dispatching new patrol helicopters this week and announcing a six-year, $1.3-billion border security plan.

Trump told reporters on the day of his inauguration last month that 25 per cent tariffs would be imposed on Canada and Mexico starting Feb. 1.

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Speaking from the Oval Office on Friday, the president confirmed that remained the case, saying he was not looking for a concession from Canada. He said he was considering a 10 per cent trade levy on oil.

“You see the power of the tariff,“ Trump told reporters Friday. ”Nobody can compete with us because we have by far the biggest piggy bank.”

The president travelled to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida Friday night and went to a golf course in West Palm Beach Saturday morning.

Leading up to Saturday, a flurry of ministers made trips to Washington to plead Canada’s case with Trump officials and Republican lawmakers, warning that U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports would also hurt Americans.

Trudeau has not publicly released plans for retaliatory tariffs, but promised on Friday that should the U.S. hit Canada with tariffs, it would react with a “purposeful, forceful” but also “reasonable” and “immediate” response.

The tariffs will have immediate and direct consequences on Canadian and American livelihoods, said Canadian Chamber of Commerce President Candace Laing.

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“This decision makes no sense when the majority of Americans oppose tariffs, when it harms businesses and workers on both sides of the border, and when the U.S. stock market is signalling that there’s no appetite for disruption,” Laing said in a statement Saturday.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said the tariffs are “deeply disappointing and will hit small businesses hard on both sides of the border.”

The CFIB said in a statement that just over half of Canada’s small businesses are involved in importing or exporting directly to the United States.

More to come. 

National Post, with files from The Canadian Press

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