Category Archives: Trump tariffs

Canada’s retaliatory US tariffs take effect as trade dispute grows

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Counter-measures covering several sectors come after Trump announced 50% tariffs on Canadian goods

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of American imports have come into effect, escalating a trade fight that has been marked by intensifying tensions between US president Donald Trump and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney.

The tariffs took effect at 12.01am on Tuesday, and range from 15% to 50% and apply to products covering $20bn in imports from the US. The measures target sectors including steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics – industries that have been most affected by US tariffs.

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No bailouts for Jaguar Land Rover amid reports of thousands of job cuts, says minister

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Carmaker, which is battling Trump tariffs and Chinese competitors, faces talks with union leaders and government

The government has signalled that it will not invest taxpayers’ money to limit job losses at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), after it emerged that the UK’s biggest carmaker is planning up to 4,000 redundancies.

Before crunch talks on Tuesday between JLR, union leaders and government officials, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said it was not his job to “intervene and run businesses”.

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Detroit despairs as ‘insanity’ of Trump’s Canada trade war punishes city

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Unpopular new policy comes as midterms loom and control of Congress could be decided by several Michigan races

Every day $1bn worth of goods crosses the river dividing Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, two largely blue-collar US and Canadian cities that have come to act as one in the creation of North America’s auto industry.

News this week of Donald Trump’s escalating trade spat with Canada has everyone worried. Political and economic leaders and observers labeled the move an act of “hubris” , blamed Trump’s “ego”, and called the escalation “insanity”.

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How to lose Trump’s trade war: test Canada’s resolve with threats to hockey sticks

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The US president expected Ottawa to bow to tariff demands, but Canada is striking back – and it could cost Americans

Earlier this year, a survey found that Canada, along with Switzerland, was the best-liked country in the world. We all know this kind of polling is about as scientific as a high school popularity contest, but at least anecdotally, Canadians have a reputation for being friendly and welcoming, respectful and polite. Many people would find it difficult to dislike Canadians.

But not Donald Trump, who in a “hold my beer” moment this week demonstrated that he, at least, finds it easy to resent Canadians. The US president called the country “difficult and unreasonable”, and in a particularly hysterical moment, threatened to rename a lake, after trade talks collapsed.

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Wiped out: US faces surging toilet paper prices amid trade war with Canada

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Paper products among hardest-hit sectors after trade negotiations broke down, with 25-50% tariffs estimated

Using the bathroom or having a cry is about to become more expensive for North Americans as the US and Canada enter a full-fledged trade war that threatens to flush away decades of peaceful trading between the two nations.

After trade negotiations broke down between the two countries last weekend, Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, vowed to match US tariffs “dollar for dollar” and unveiled a list of nearly 900 American goods that will face 25% to 50% tariffs starting on 8 September.

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Mark Carney says Canada can’t accept US trade deal that would weaken French language

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Prime minister praised for rejecting US trade proposal as Trump shows little interest in retreating from dispute

Mark Carney said on Monday that while American negotiators saw the French language in Canada as an “irritant … in Quebec, these are rights,” days after receiving widespread praise from political leaders for rejecting a US trade proposal that many perceived as weakening the country’s Francophone culture.

The prime minister’s remarks came hours after the US president, Donald Trump, showed little interest in retreating from the spat, posting on social media that Canada had been “ripping off the United States of America for years” and threatening a swath of new, economically devastating tariffs on cars and trucks.

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JD Vance reportedly mocks Carney for trying to ‘out-tough’ Trump on trade

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Audio recording of US vice-president apparently made at New York fundraiser and shared with Canadian Press

Leaked audio from a private event has reportedly captured the US vice-president, JD Vance, mocking Canada for apparently capitulating in a trade deal and taunting the prime minister, Mark Carney, for trying to “out-tough” Donald Trump.

The recording, which was reportedly made at a fundraiser and shared with the Canadian Press, comes in the last stretch of a difficult negotiation in which the US president has threatened to impose 50% tariffs on Canada.

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‘Mamma mia!’: Trump tariffs refund ignites 53% profit spike at Nintendo

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Profit jump fuelled largely by unknown US refund amount as Japanese video game firm records quarterly sales drop

Nintendo has reported a jump in profits, as the Japanese game maker’s earnings were buoyed up by a long-awaited refund on Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The company said profits surged 53.5% to ¥147.4bn (£694m) over the three months to June, substantially beating expert forecasts for ¥77.8bn.

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Trump’s new tariffs ‘a sales tax that will make life harder for Americans’, say Democrats – US politics live

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Even some Republicans apparently expressing concern over measures against 85 countries

The Trump administration continues to expand its authoritarian and radical drive to revamp voting rules and seize state election powers, though it faces growing resistance from US courts, state officials and Democrats, who warn the moves are sparking “chaos” and endangering voting rights and the rule of law.

Donald Trump’s unprecedented drive to change election rules, which states legally set, is fueled by his obsession with his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, which he falsely attributes to voting fraud, coupled with his fear that Democrats will “find a reason to impeach me” if they take control of the House in November’s midterms elections, say former election officials and legal experts.

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Donald Trump hits Australian exports to US with new higher trade tariff over claims of ‘forced labour’

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Australia’s trade minister, Don Farrell, says tariff regime is unjustified and inconsistent with free trade agreement with US

Donald Trump has hit Australian exports with new trade tariffs, claiming the country is not doing enough to combat forced labour, but the Albanese government has demanded he remove them immediately.

The United States announced on Friday morning (AEST) that many Australian exports now attract a new 12.5% tariff as part of a broader regime affecting dozens of countries. However the Albanese government says Australia’s three largest export categories – including beef and gold – will avoid the tariff hit.

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Donald Trump to impose 50% tariff on most Canadian goods, White House says

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Turmoil likely as Trump officials say Canada unfairly discriminated against US autos, alcohol and dairy products

Donald Trump is imposing 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods, White House officials said on Monday, declaring Canada has unfairly discriminated against American autos, alcohol and dairy products.

The move could unleash a new wave of economic chaos, with risks of higher inflation and further fraying of relations between two nations that had been closely woven together before Trump’s return to the White House.

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Brazil vows to retaliate if US imposes 25% tariffs on some of its products

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President Lula’s office says US move is result of pressure on White House by family of predecessor Jair Bolsonaro

Brazil has vowed to retaliate against Washington’s decision to impose 25% tariffs on imports of some Brazilian products.

The office of the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, described the tariffs as “a regrettable milestone” in the history of relations between the two countries and said they were the result of pressure exerted on the White House by the family of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.

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Trump administration proposes 25% tariffs on Brazil despite US trade surplus

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US claims world’s 10th-biggest economy engages in ‘unreasonable’ trade practices that ‘restrict US commerce’

The Trump administration proposed 25% tariffs on imports from Brazil, charging that the world’s 10th-biggest economy engages in trade practices that are “unreasonable’’ and that “burden or restrict US commerce”.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he received the decision “with indignation”. The Brazil president also blamed the decision by the US administration on his rival in October’s elections, Flávio Bolsonaro, the senator who visited Washington last week. The senator is the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, once nicknamed “the Trump of the Tropics” by his allies.

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What was actually achieved at Trump and Xi’s ‘stalemate summit’ in Beijing?

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US president has said he and Chinese leader ‘settled a lot of different problems’ but has given little detail on solutions

Donald Trump’s whirlwind trip to Beijing – the first US presidential visit in nearly a decade – wrapped up with much fanfare but little clarity about what was actually achieved.

Trump said on Friday he and Xi Jinping, China’s leader, “settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to solve”. But he didn’t provide much detail on what those solutions were.

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Trump-Xi summit live: US president preparing to meet China’s leader with trade, Taiwan and the Iran war set to dominate talks

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Ahead of the crucial talks, security has been heightened in Beijing, with the US president set to meet Xi at the Great Hall of the People

I’m now sitting in the press filing centre at the China World Hotel in Beijing. Two American flags and a wooden lectern bearing a “United States embassy Beijing” seal stand on a black podium against a black curtain beneath a giant crystal chandelier.

There are TVs on either side of the podium: one showing CNN, the other Fox News. Sadly, that is as close as many reporters will get to seeing Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in action today.

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Trump gives EU until 4 July to ratify trade deal or face ‘much higher’ tariffs

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Trump sets Fourth of July deadline as he vents impatience at speed of EU’s implementation

Donald Trump has said the EU must ratify its trade deal with the US by 4 July or face “much higher” tariffs, after European officials fell short of agreement on the pact.

Trump said he spoke to the EU chief, Ursula von der Leyen, about the issue and, he posted on his Truth Social platform, “agreed to give her until our Country’s 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels”.

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US trade court rules against Trump’s 10% global tariffs

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Trump also issues new deadline for EU to implement trade deal terms before raising tariffs to ‘much higher levels’

The US trade court on Thursday ruled against Donald Trump’s latest 10% global tariffs, finding across-the-board tariffs were not justified under a 1970s trade law.

The US Court of International Trade ruled in favor of small businesses that challenged the tariffs, which took effect on 24 February. The ruling was 2-1, with one judge saying it was premature to grant victory to the small business plaintiffs.

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Trump says he will ‘probably put a big tariff on the UK’ if it doesn’t drop digital services tax

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US president accuses UK of thinking it can ‘make an easy buck’ from US tech companies, weeks after warning that UK–US trade deal can be changed

Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on the UK if it does not drop its digital services tax on US social media firms.

The digital services tax, introduced in 2020, imposes a 2% levy on the revenues of several major US tech companies.

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Carney names broad team to advise on tense US-Canada trade talks

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Conservatives and former provincial premiers among those PM names to advisory committee on economic relations

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, says his new advisory committee on economic relations with the United States will draw on the “best advice and the broadest perspectives” as the country braces for what many expect will be tense trade negotiations with its southern neighbour.

The 24-member advisory committee, announced on Tuesday, shows the prime minister’s eagerness to reach across the political spectrum to ensure Canada is “well positioned to advance its interests” at the looming trade talks.

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Mark Carney secures majority government in Canada after special election win

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Carney’s Liberals will now be able to pass legislation without the support of opposition parties – and govern until 2029

The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has secured a parliamentary majority for his Liberal government, CBC News reported. The victory will help him push through a legislative agenda he says is needed for an increasingly divided geopolitical world.

Three special elections were held on Monday in Ontario and Quebec, with two in districts – known as ridings – that have long voted Liberal.

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