Tariffs
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As Justin Trudeau’s nearly decade-long tenure as prime minister came to an end, new trade threats and tariffs came from Washington.
Ian Austen
A new prime minister. Damaging U.S. tariffs that have stayed in force for more than a few hours. A premier who provoked more trade threats from President Trump. And the end of the carbon tax.
Even by the breakneck standard of recent weeks, it was an eventful week for Canada. So let’s try to untangle the latest developments and look at what’s ahead.
The differences between Justin Trudeau and his successor as prime minister, Mark Carney, were immediately apparent before and after the swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall on Friday.
[Read: Canada Has a New Prime Minister With a Very Hard First Assignment]
[Read: New Canadian Leader’s Balancing Act: Negotiate With and Fight Trump]
[Read: Canada Will Have a New Prime Minister. Here’s What to Know.]
[Read: Banker Mark Carney Wins Race to Lead Liberal Party, and Canada]
The public wasn’t invited onto the grounds of the governor general’s official residence this time, in contrast to Mr. Trudeau’s November 2015 swearing-in, and gone were the giant video screens displaying what was going on inside. Businesslike may be the best way to describe the ceremony for Mr. Carney, Canada’s first prime minister who had not previously been elected to any political office.
[Watch: Canada Gets a New Leader Amid Trump’s Trade War]
Following tradition, Mr. Trudeau’s meeting with Governor General Mary Simon to tender his resignation was private. But in the eyes of the public, the former prime minister has recently achieved something like redemption, I wrote this week, thanks to his forceful response to Mr. Trump’s threats to Canada’s economy and sovereignty.
[Read: Challenged by Trump, Trudeau Rallies Canada as His Final Act]
There was no celebration for Mr. Carney’s slimmed-down cabinet of 24 members. They went right to work.
And while the cabinet members were largely carried over from Mr. Trudeau’s government, they quickly distanced themselves from their former leader. At the new cabinet’s first meeting, Mr. Carney announced an end to the federal carbon tax for consumers, even though he was once the United Nations’ special envoy on climate action and finance.
Under Mr. Trudeau, the government was never able to successfully explain to Canadians that they received more money from the program’s rebates than they paid in carbon taxes. And the Conservatives under Pierre Poilievre relentlessly attacked the climate change measure.
What’s next: Mr. Carney heads overseas to meet the leaders of Britain and France. Conspicuously, he has not announced plans for a meeting with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Carney is expected to capitalize on the positive poll momentum the Liberals have enjoyed since Mr. Trudeau announced his resignation, and to call an election soon without bringing back Parliament, perhaps within the coming week.
Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, has become something of a fixture on American television news shows, where he argues against Mr. Trump’s tariff plans. But he really caught the eye of the president after announcing that the province would stick a 25 percent export charge on electricity it sends to utilities in the United States.
Mr. Trump responded on Tuesday by announcing that he would double his planned tariffs on Canadian exports of steel and aluminum to 50 percent. Ultimately, both sides backed down.
[Read: Trump Pulls Back Plans to Double Canadian Metal Tariffs After Ontario Relents]
But Mr. Trump went ahead with his steel and aluminum tariffs at the original 25 percent, and Canada swiftly responded with another round of retaliatory tariffs against American imports to Canada.
[Read: Trump’s Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum Go Into Effect, Inciting Global Retaliation]
[Read: Trump Expands Trade Threats in Global Game of Chicken]
Matina Stevis-Gridneff, our Canada bureau chief, appeared on “The Daily” to discuss how Canadians were responding to the trade turmoil and Mr. Trump’s repeated calls for the annexation of Canada.
[Listen to “The Daily”: Elbows Up: Canada’s Response to Trump’s Trade War]
What’s next: Mr. Ford, along with Dominic LeBlanc, the new international trade minister, and François-Philippe Champagne, the new finance minister, met with their counterparts in Washington: Howard Lutnick, the U.S. commerce secretary, and Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative. The message they received, Matina reports, is “there was no way Canada, or any other country in President Trump’s cross hairs, could avoid a new round of sweeping tariffs on April 2.”
[Read: Tariff Pain First, Deals Later, U.S. Tells Canada in Key Meeting]
Those tariffs will be “reciprocal” — that is, the United States will apply the same tariffs against exports from Canada that Canada puts on exports from the United States.
Because of the U.S.M.C.A. (or CUSMA, as it’s called in Canada), the free trade agreement signed under the first Trump administration, Canada has relatively few tariffs on American imports aside from some farm products, particularly dairy, that are part of the supply management system. So, in theory, reciprocal tariffs may have relatively little effect.
But there is a wild card. Mr. Trump sees value-added taxes, like the goods and services tax, as tariffs because they are not applied to exports — a view not shared by most trade economists. How Mr. Trump might go after the G.S.T., and how that could affect trade between Canada and the United States, is unclear.
A much larger trade problem may explode on April 2, when Mr. Trump’s suspension of a sweeping and potentially devastating 25 percent tariff on most Canadian exports and a 10 percent tariff on energy and some minerals expires. (Those charges are already being imposed on some Canadian exports that are not certified as complying with the U.S.M.C.A.’s North American content rules.)
Like everything with Mr. Trump and trade, however, all is subject to change.
Mathemalchemy, a multimedia installation that has been described as “a mathematics fever dream turned artistic playground for all math lovers (and haters, too),” is now on view at the University of Quebec in Montreal. Friday was Pi Day.
At a meeting in Quebec’s Charlevoix region, foreign ministers from the Group of 7 industrialized democracies presented a cautiously united front, notably on Ukraine.
Canadians visitors staying longer than 30 days in the United States will be required to register.
The police in Manitoba have identified some of the human remains found in the search of a landfill near Winnipeg as those of Morgan Beatrice Harris, one of four Indigenous women who were victims of a serial killer.
The Agawa Canyon Tour Train out of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, is one of six “spectacular North American train trips” highlighted in Travel.
Drone footage taken by scientists shows narwhals in Nunavut using their tusks to play with their food.
Ian Austen reports on Canada for The Times based in Ottawa. He covers politics, culture and the people of Canada and has reported on the country for two decades. He can be reached at austen@nytimes.com. More about Ian Austen
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Ian Austen reports on Canada for The Times based in Ottawa. He covers politics, culture and the people of Canada and has reported on the country for two decades. He can be reached at austen@nytimes.com. More about Ian Austen
Trump’s Big Bet: The president offers many reasons for imposing tariffs, including revenue, leverage over competitors and job creation. But history suggests a more complex history.
China’s Access to Mexico: Officials in Beijing are increasingly worried that President Trump’s tariffs on Mexico could close a back door into the U.S. market.
American Gas: Facing Trump tariff threats, governments and companies are proposing major investments in American liquefied natural gas projects.
Wine Businesses Fear Disaster: President Trump’s threat to impose 200 percent fees on European wines may look like a boon for American wine producers. But some don’t see it that way.
Europe Retaliates: The European Union responded to American steel and aluminum tariffs with its own tariffs on boats and bourbon — and pledges of more to come. Here’s what products might be hit.
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