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JUST IN: U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says Apple Maps could “soon” change the name to Lake America. Burgum told Fox Business on Monday that Trump “reached out to Apple directly” about the renaming. More to come …
TRADE-TENSION TIMELINE
Trade tensions between Canada and the U.S. began shortly after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th U.S. President last January.
Soon after, the White House used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to enact sweeping tariffs against Canada — citing illicit fentanyl smuggling, trade imbalances and border security as justification.
While the initial tariffs exempted goods covered under CUSMA, not to mention the U.S. Supreme Court striking down many of these so-called “emergency measures” earlier this year, the Trump White House turned to other means to escalate their trade war.
This past July, the Trump White House opted to use Section 338 of the 1930 Tariff Act to justify its tariffs.
This legislation dates back to the Great Depression and allows the U.S. to impose import levies of up to 50% without congressional oversight or investigation.
This invocation of Section 338 marked the first time it had ever been used at this scale.
Most importantly, using Section 338 allowed the Trump White House to completely bypass protections laid out in CUSMA.
Using Canada’s supply management policies in the dairy industry as justification, as well as automotive quotas and individual provincial bans on the sale of U.S. alcohol, Trump’s 50% tariffs target $28 billion in Canadian goods while strategically excluding energy and critical minerals.
Upon the recent collapse in trade talks , Ottawa announced dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs to match the U.S. measures, which go into effect on Sept. 8.
Despite both Canada and the U.S. saying late last week that a deal had been reached in principle, the talks unraveled after American officials allegedly introduced a slew of eleventh-hour demands, ones that Prime Minister Mark Carney warned would severely impact key Canadian industries.
Among these last-minute additions were passages restricting Ottawa’s ability to negotiate independent trade deals with third-party nations, alongside demands for concessions on Canadian cultural and French-language policies, as well as streaming regulations.