Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (G) follows US President Donald Trump (D) at the G7 summit in Kananaskis (Alberta), Canada, June 16, 2025 (AFP / Brendan Smialowski)
US President Donald Trump again targeted Canada on Thursday, imposing 35% surcharge, one of the highest rates announced since the start of the week, accusing the United States’s first trading partner for retalling his customs duties.
In a letter addressed to the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump accused Canada not to “work with the United States” and to have “retaliated with his own customs rights”
Mark Carney said Thursday evening on X that “during current commercial negotiations with the United States, the Canadian government (defended) tirelessly our workers and our companies”.
The American president estimated Friday in front of the press that this increase had “been rather well received” by Ottawa, adding that it is “what we need but we will see what will happen”.
As with each letter sent to more than twenty countries since Monday, the American president said that these customs duties will be added to those aimed at specific activity sectors, such as steel, aluminum or automobile, which are among the main Canadian exports to the United States.
However, a close source has confirmed to AFP that in the state, this surcharge would not apply to the products entering the United States as part of the United States-Mexico Free Trade Agreement (ACEUM), even if no final decision was for the moment.
A little earlier in the evening, Trump announced in a telephone interview in NBC that he intended to send a missive to the European Union (EU) “today or tomorrow”.
“I chat with the EU which corresponds, as you know, to several countries, as well as with Canada. We should send them (letters, editor’s note) in the coming hours.”
Another uncertainty: he assured that countries which have not been notified of specific customs duties would be imposed on a surcharge of 15 to 20%, without specifying whether this surcharge would be added to the so-called “basic” rights of 10%, which are targeting most of the products entering the United States since April.
– tense negotiations –
Canada was, with Mexico, the first target of customs duties: Trump accused his two neighbors not to fight illegal immigration or fentanyl traffic, powerful opioid responsible for a serious health crisis in the United States. Canadian authorities point out that less than 1% of fentanyl in the United States come from Canada.
The American president imposed 25% on products imported from the two countries, before suspending a good part.
US President Donald Trump (D) is addressed to the press alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the G7 summit in Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge in Kananaskis, Canada, June 16, 2025 (AFP / Brendan Smialowski)
Since then, Ottawa and Washington have been trying to negotiate a trade agreement but the discussions are tense between the two partners, who do not want to give the feeling of giving in negotiations considered as challenges of sovereignty.
Latest stage, Canada announced at the end of June to give up its tax on digital services, decided in 2024 and which was to come into force on July 1, after Mr. Trump broke the discussions, describing this tax as “direct and obvious” brought to the United States.
But these trade tensions have an impact on exchanges between the two countries. The United States’s share in Canadian exports increased in May to 68.3%, “one of the lowest proportions ever recorded,” the Canadian authorities.
About twenty countries have already received a letter since the start of the week, mainly Asian countries, with 25% applied to products from partners such as Japan or South Korea and up to 40% for certain Southeast Asian countries.
Photo montage showing Brazilian President Lula (G) in Brasilia on January 29, 2025, and American president Donald Trump in the Oval Ovale Board of the White House, in Washington, February 10, 2025 (AFP / Evaristo SA)
It is Brazil, so far not targeted by surcharges beyond 10%, which has experienced the highest increase in customs duties applied to its products, the American president announcing 50% in response to the proceedings against the ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, accused of attempted coup.
After a first postponement, these individual surcharges were to be collected on July 9, but Trump signed a decree on Monday to postpone them on August 1.
After steel, aluminum and automobile, and while announcements are expected for construction wood, semiconductors and pharmaceutical products, the American president also announced on Wednesday that imported copper would be applied from August 1 a surcharge of 50%.
