Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at a press conference alongside Dominic LeBlanc, minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, and and Canada’s Chief Negotiator Janice Charette in Ottawa, Canada, on Aug. 22, 2026. Dave Chan/AFP via Getty Images
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Saturday that retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods will take effect on Sept. 8.
“Let me be clear: We take this step reluctantly, reluctantly because we recognize that some of these measures will raise costs and reduce choice for Canadians,” Carney said during a press conference on Aug. 22.
The retaliatory tariffs were announced less than 24 hours after the United States imposed 50 percent tariffs on certain goods made in Canada, following the failure to reach a trade deal.
Carney said that by “rejecting a bad deal,” he remains confident that this path forward is in the “best interest of Canada.”
Both nations blamed the other for new demands that upended the talks.
Carney alleged that in the hours before the trade deal collapsed, the United States attempted to “restrict our ability to have other trade deals.”
“We’re the partner of choice, in many respects, for countries around the world, and the Americans wanted to restrict that,” Carney said. “They had language that they wanted to restrict. Unacceptable.”
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer
Canada on Aug. 21 of making “new demands and walk-backs of other commitments” before the collapse.
During the trade talks, the United States
Canada to stop what it said were discriminatory trade practices against American-made exports such as automobiles, alcohol, and dairy products, in exchange for lowering the current tariffs.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer speaks to members of the press outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington on April 2, 2026. Alex Wong/Getty Images
The 50 percent tariffs on Canadian imports were originally scheduled to take effect on Aug. 19 but were briefly delayed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who extended trade negotiations by three days.
“I have paused the 50 percent Tariffs against Canada that were scheduled to kick in tomorrow morning for a three-day period, based on the fact that Canada and the U.S.A., subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Aug. 18, hours before the new tariffs were originally scheduled to begin.
American whiskey is seen on the shelves of a SAQ liquor store in Montreal on March 4, 2025. The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi
Trump touted that as part of the deal, “the great Keystone XL Pipeline, long ago killed by [President] Joe Biden, may be awoken from the grave!”
Even Canadian provinces were preparing to restock U.S.-made alcohol, which has been in short supply since March 2025 in response to previous tariffs.
Canadian imports of U.S.-made alcohol dropped nearly 81 percent between March 2025 and February 2026, according to the White House.
