“Canada – USA Tariff Wars”

OTTAWA — Canada’s retaliatory tariffs are set to take effect on Tuesday and with an American response almost inevitable, trade watchers are warning Canada should prepare itself for economic pain.

“We may be in an escalating war, and the question is who’s going to have the greater threshold for pain in this, and are Canadians ready for it because it’s going to be painful,” said Fen Osler Hampson, professor of International Affairs at Carleton University.

I was in my fourth year at Western University and very involved in the student newspaper, the Western Gazette, when the Trudeau government passed the Online News Act in 2023. This was the Canadian law requiring tech giants to pay outlets for hosting their news.

It was a well-intentioned attempt to save Canadian journalism. And indeed, Google agreed to a $100-million annual payout to help sustain media outlets across the country. But in response, Meta decided to simply block news content altogether from Instagram and Facebook for Canadians.

Canada’s latest counter-tariffs take effect Sept. 8, and Canadians should understand where the economic pressure will first be felt. Unlike last year, the initial shock will not necessarily appear on grocery shelves. This time, it will begin farther up the food chain, with importers, processors and manufacturers.

WASHINGTON — As the United States braces for pivotal midterm elections this November, there’s a new and unexpected issue on voters’ minds in many states: President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war with Canada.

“Canada is our friend, our closest ally and our biggest trading partner,” Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins told Politico in an interview published last week.

“This is not China that we are talking about. This is not an adversarial country. And … our economies are so linked, if you try to hurt one you end up hurting Maine.”

Oh but it is China you’re talking about.

On a Monday night in York, Pa., Michael Helfrich was among the regulars gathered inside First Capital Dispensing Co., a smoky bar where the two-man band Snack Club played Dolly Parton covers.

Mr. Helfrich took a drag from his cigarette and moved his foot to the beat. Formerly York’s mayor, he left office in January and has since taken a hiatus from all things political. “I’m completely out of it,” he said. “I’ve given over 100 per cent for a long time, so this was my time to step away. … I’m exhausted, you know? I fought and fought and fought since I was a teenager.”

Canada seems to have inadvertently slid into negotiations toward a new trade “deal” – essentially legitimizing U.S. tariffs and effectively destroying or, at the very least, sidelining the USMCA.

Have we allowed our normally calm demeanour to be penetrated by the rantings of a mercurial President? Or, have we perhaps been skilfully maneuvered into sabotaging our own free trade agreement by an expert trade negotiator?

Canada has not been an angel.

“Oh spirit of the maple tree the Americans were meme to me” 😂

Mark Carney memes are approaching the steep portion of the Chamath humiliation curve pic.twitter.com/VMDls8HymU

— Dram McCloudigan (@himmyhapperson) September 6, 2026

OTTAWA — Before Donald Trump‘s second term in the White House, there was a rough sequence to Canada’s trade wars with the United States. Things got bad. Things got tense. Then, through an agreement that each country believed was mutually beneficial, things cooled down.

This was the case when trade tensions preceded the signing of 1965’s Canada-United States Automotive Products Agreement — also known as the “Auto Pact” — which helped establish an integrated car manufacturing industry across the border. It happened again when protectionism gave way to free trade after the hard-fought federal election campaign of 1988.

Dear Mark,

Sorry to be writing you yet another missive about this whole auto-industry tariff thing. It is getting tedious, isn’t it? For me, too. And pardon the presumption of addressing this directly to you. It is, of course, the height of hubris for any journalist, let alone one whose column is called Motor Mouth, to think you might read our nonsense.

President Donald Trump said that Canada-based ‌aircraft manufacturer Bombardier will no longer be allowed to sell in the United States as the trade tiff with Canada continues to escalate.

Trump posted on Truth Social about the company on Sunday afternoon. Bombardier is one of the world’s biggest producers of business jets, and Trump said that the company would have to build in the U.S. if it wants access to U.S. markets.

On Tuesday, Canada is set to slap countertariffs on roughly $28-billion of U.S. goods, ranging from carpets and cutlery to radiators and steel rods, barring a last-minute deal between the two countries.

The duties, which would cover hundreds of items, are scheduled to come into effect at 12:01 a.m.

Ottawa has said it designed the tariffs as a tit-for-tat response to President Donald Trump’s use of Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 on roughly the same dollar figure worth of Canadian shipments to the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump took another jab at Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday, sharing a cartoon image on Truth Social of the two world leaders playing hockey.

In the photo, Trump is donning a USA Hockey jersey and standing over Carney, sprawled on the ice while wearing a Hockey Canada sweater, with Trump telling Carney: “Get up, governor.”

Donald Trump seemingly has a new irritant in the trade dispute with Ottawa: The Canadian dollar.

The U.S. president took to social media on Sunday to complain about the cost of the loonie when compared to the U.S. greenback, claiming that the imbalance is “unacceptable.

“It has been that way for years — but no longer!” Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Sunday without clarifying what he meant.