‘Bad blood on both sides’: Canada hits back with tariffs up to 50%

The list reaches across sectors including smartphones, makeup and perfumes, kitchen appliances, dairy, seafood, paper products, clothing, furniture, plywood and household cutlery. Energy products, including oil, natural gas, potash and critical minerals, are excluded.

Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, speaking alongside Industry Minister Mélanie Joly and Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu in Ottawa, framed the package as targeted industry protection rather than a revenue play.

“Canada must respond, and today we are in a proportionate, targeted, and strategic way,” Champagne said.

The announcement raises the urgency of workforce planning for companies with significant exposure to the Canadian market. HRD America has covered how trade uncertainty has been freezing hiring and investment decisions for tariff-exposed companies, with many businesses putting workforce expansion on hold as they await clarity that’s proving slow to arrive.

Trade talks collapse, auto tariffs loom

The retaliatory measures followed the collapse of trade talks between Ottawa and Washington, which fell apart Friday evening. Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended negotiations and recalled Canada’s trade team, calling the U.S. terms a “bad deal” that Canada couldn’t accept. The prime minister made his government’s position clear at a press conference Saturday.