Canada to impose 25% tariffs on nearly $30bn in US imports as trade war flares – live
Canada to impose 25% tariffs on nearly $30bn in US imports as trade war flares
In response to 25% tariffs imposed by Donald Trump on steel and aluminum imports, Canada’s finance minister, Dominic LeBlanc, says his country will tomorrow retaliate with levies of the same amount on almost $30bn in imports from the United States.
“I am announcing that the government of Canada, following a dollar for dollar approach, will be imposing, as of 12.01am, tomorrow, March 13, 2025, 25% reciprocal tariffs on an additional $29.8bn of imports from the United States,” LeBlanc said at a press conference.
“This includes steel products worth $12.6bn and aluminum products worth $3bn, as well as additional imported US goods worth $14.2bn for a total of $29.8bn. The list of additional products affected by counter-tariffs includes computers, sports equipment and cast iron products, as examples.”
Key events
With taoiseach Micheál Martin sitting right next to him in the Oval Office, Donald Trump criticized Ireland’s position as a tax haven.
The island has attracted American companies in sectors like tech and pharmaceuticals who are looking to cut down on their tax burden. Trump said allowing that to happen was the fault of previous administrations.
“This beautiful island … of five million people, it’s got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grasp,” he said. “I’d like to see the United States not have been so stupid for so many years, not just with Ireland, with everybody.”
He then said he would have used tariffs to stop US companies from basing themselves in Ireland to avoid taxes:
Who would have been so stupid to let these deals happen? For instance, when the pharmaceutical company started to go to Ireland, I would have said, that’s okay, if you want to go to Ireland, I think it’s great, but if you want to sell anything into the United States, I’m going to put a 200% tariff on you so you’re never going to be able to sell anything into the United States. You know what they would have done? They would have stayed here.
Take away the threat of tariffs, and he sounds a little bit like Joe Biden:
Trump attacks Department of Education employees, accusing them of ‘not showing up to work’
As his administration moves to gut the Department of Education, Donald Trump levied an attack on employees at federal agency, accusing them of being lazy and saying education should be handled by the states.
“Many of them don’t work at all. Many of them never showed up to work,” the president said in the Oval Office, where he was meeting with Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin.
His administration yesterday ordered a mass dismissal of employees that amounted to essentially cutting its staff in half, but Trump said the education secretary, Linda McMahon, intended to dismiss only those who were underperforming:
We want to cut, but we want to cut the people that aren’t working or not doing a good job. We’re keeping the best people.
He went on to say that his goal was “to move education into the states”.
The idea of abolishing the department education has long circulated among conservatives, and Trump appears to be making good on it. Here’s more on the mass firings:
Donald Trump’s barrage of tariffs on major trading partners over various slights has spurred a growing campaign to boycott traveling to, or buying from, the United States. The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont has more:
The renowned German classical violinist Christian Tetzlaff was blunt in explaining why he and his quartet have cancelled a summer tour of the US.
“There seems to be a quietness or denial about what’s going on,” Tetzlaff said, describing his horror at the authoritarian polices of Donald Trump and the response of US elites to the country’s growing democratic crisis.
“I feel utter anger. I cannot go on with this feeling inside. I cannot just go and play a tour of beautiful concerts.”
Tetzlaff is not alone in acting on his disquiet. A growing international move to boycott the US is spreading from Scandinavia to Canada to the UK and beyond as consumers turn against US goods.
Most prominent so far has been the rejection by European car buyers of the Teslas produced by Elon Musk, now a prominent figure in Trump’s administration as the head of the “department of government efficiency”, a special group created by Trump that has contributed to the precipitous declines in Tesla’s share price. About 15% of its value was wiped out on Monday alone.
The fall in Tesla sales in Europe has been well documented, as has a Canadian consumer boycott in response to trade tariffs and Trump’s calls for Canada to become the 51st US state, but the past week has seen daily reports of cultural and other forms of boycotts and disinvestment.
Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin, has arrived at the White House, where he was greeted by Donald Trump.
The two leaders turned to the press briefly, and the US president was asked about today’s inflation data. “Very good news,” Trump yelled, before heading inside.
While Canada and the European Union moved swiftly to retaliate for Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, one major US trading partner is holding off, for now.
Reuters reports that Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said her government will attempt to negotiate an end to the tariffs, particularly with Trump vowing “reciprocal” tariffs starting next month.
“We will wait until 2 April and from then we will see whether our definition of reciprocal tariffs will be applied too,” Sheinbaum said today.
US trade representative calls EU policies ‘out of step with reality’ in response to retaliatory tariffs
Trade tensions are also flaring across the Atlantic, after the United States today imposed 25% levies on imports of steel and aluminum and the European Union responded with retaliatory tariffs.
In response, US trade representative Jamieson Greer accused the EU of interfering with attempts by the United States to rebuild its manufacturing sector:
For years, the European Union has opposed the United States’ efforts to reindustrialize. The EU has rejected attempts under successive US administrations to cooperate effectively on dealing with global excess capacity on steel, aluminum and other sectors, employing measures that are too little and too late.
If the EU acted as quickly to address global excess capacity as it does to punish the United States, we likely would be in a different situation today. The EU’s punitive action completely disregards the national security imperatives of the United States – and indeed international security – and is yet another indicator that the EU’s trade and economic policies are out of step with reality.
Here’s the latest on the squabble:
Foreign ministers from G7 countries, including Canada and the United States, are meeting in Quebec’s Charlevoix region starting today.
It’s impeccable timing, as the group of countries – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – are newly at loggerheads over Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on a range of allies.
The Canadian foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, said she’ll raise the issue when she meets with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio:
In every single meeting, I will raise the issue of tariffs to coordinate a response with the Europeans and to put pressure on the Americans. This is much more than about our economy. It is about the future of our country. Canadian sovereignty and identity are non-negotiable. Canadians have had enough, and we are a strong country who will defend our sovereignty, will defend our jobs and will defend our way of living, and we will do so altogether, every single day and one day at a time.
Earlier in the day, Reuters reports that Rubio told reporters he will not bring up at the meeting Trump’s plan to make Canada the 51st US state.
Canadian foreign minister condemns ‘unjustified and unjustifiable’ trade war
Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, Mélanie Joly, asked Americans to tell their elected representatives that they do not want Donald Trump to pursue a trade war against their northern neighbor.
“The only constant in this unjustified and unjustifiable trade war seems to be President Trump’s talks of annexing our country’s through economic coercion,” Joly told a press conference. “Yesterday, he called our border a fictional line and repeated his disrespectful 51st state rhetoric. Well, Canadians have made it very clear that we will not back down and we will not give in to this coercion.”
Joly spoke directly to Americans, and asked that they make their objections known:
To our American friends, I want you to remember this, Canada is your best friend, best neighbor and best ally. Many of us have family on both sides of the border. Canada is also America’s best and biggest customer. We buy more American goods than the UK, France, China and Japan altogether. Together, we have spent generations building a relationship between our countries that is the envy of the world. Canada is not the one driving up the cost of your groceries or of your gasoline or any of your construction. Canada is not the one putting your jobs at risk. Canada is not the one that is ultimately starting this war. President Trump’s tariffs against you are causing that and there are no winners in a trade war.
American friends, help us help you. Please, help us end these tariffs as quickly as possible, and please talk to your elected representatives at the federal at the state and municipal level, please talk to your governors, to your senators, to your House representatives and to your mayors. Send a message to the White House.
Canada to impose 25% tariffs on nearly $30bn in US imports as trade war flares
In response to 25% tariffs imposed by Donald Trump on steel and aluminum imports, Canada’s finance minister, Dominic LeBlanc, says his country will tomorrow retaliate with levies of the same amount on almost $30bn in imports from the United States.
“I am announcing that the government of Canada, following a dollar for dollar approach, will be imposing, as of 12.01am, tomorrow, March 13, 2025, 25% reciprocal tariffs on an additional $29.8bn of imports from the United States,” LeBlanc said at a press conference.
“This includes steel products worth $12.6bn and aluminum products worth $3bn, as well as additional imported US goods worth $14.2bn for a total of $29.8bn. The list of additional products affected by counter-tariffs includes computers, sports equipment and cast iron products, as examples.”
Democrats’ chances of retaking Senate complicated by New Hampshire lawmaker’s retirement
Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen has announced that she will not seek re-election next year, opening the possibility that her seat will be claimed by a Republican and Democrats’ chances of retaking the majority in the chamber will be set back.
In a video published by local broadcaster WMUR, Shaheen said:
After careful consideration, I am announcing that I have made the difficult decision not to seek re-election to the Senate in 2026. It’s just time.
New Hampshire is, on the surface, a blue state, with Kamala Harris winning its electoral votes last November, and Democrats dominating its congressional delegation. However, the GOP has had success in federal elections in the past and performs strongly in state-level races, and Shaheen’s retirement opens up the possibility that they could seize her Senate seat.
That would make it even more difficult for Democrats to retake the majority in the chamber. They and their allies currently hold 47 seats to the Republicans’ 53, and next year they will be defending seats in Georgia and Michigan, both swing states that Donald Trump claimed last year.
Meanwhile, in Greenland, voters just delivered an earthquake to its politics that saw major gains for two parties that support independence from Denmark. Whether that will have any bearing on Donald Trump’s desire to absorb the Arctic island into the United States remains to be seen. Here’s more, from the Guardian’s Miranda Bryant:
Greenland has voted for a complete overhaul of its government in a shock result in which the centre-right Democrat party more than tripled its seats after a dramatic election campaign fought against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s threats to acquire the Arctic island.
Tuesday’s election, in which the Democrats replaced Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), the party of the former prime minister Múte B Egede, as the biggest party in the Inatsisartut, the Greenlandic parliament, also led to a doubling of seats for Naleraq – the party most open to US collaboration and which supports a snap vote on independence – making it the second-biggest party.
Both the Democrats and the second-placed party, Naleraq, favour independence from Denmark but they differ on the pace of change. Naleraq is the most aggressively pro-independence, while the Democrats favour a more moderate pace.
The result – an earthquake in Greenlandic politics – surprised even the Democrat leader, Jens-Frederik Nielsen. The party, which has never before secured so many seats – they won 10 seats, an increase of seven on the last election and three more than their previous record of seven in 2005 – was not considered one of the major players, with most attention on IA and Naleraq and the most recent coalition partner, Siumut.
Besides Republican Thomas Massie, the only other representative to break with their party on yesterday’s government spending bill was Jared Golden, a Democrat who voted for its passage.
His support wasn’t essential to the bill’s enactment, but rather perhaps a way for Golden to hang on to his seat representing a Republican-leaning Maine district. On X, the congressman explained why he backed the measure:
This CR is not perfect, but a shutdown would be worse. Even a brief shutdown would introduce even more chaos and uncertainty at a time when our country can ill-afford it.
Funding the government is our most basic obligation as members of Congress. My vote today reflects my commitment to making tough choices and doing my job for the people of Maine.
He also took issue with some of the counterarguments to the bill from his fellow Democrats:
To be clear, this CR is not the one I would have written. But elections have consequences. I am disappointed by messaging gimmicks from some in my party, particularly the untrue claim that this CR cuts veterans services.
The truth is: There are no cuts to veterans care in the period covered by this CR & we have six months to ensure funding continues in the next fiscal year. To say it contains cuts is, at best, a misreading that creates unnecessary fear among veterans.
At worst, Dems are adopting the same cynical GOP political tactics that we have rightfully denounced – using misdirection to justify a vote. This may seem politically expedient, but it only lowers us to a level we shouldn’t accept.
US inflation remains stable despite Trump trade war fears
Just-released government data shows that the US inflation rate was steady in February, even as economists fear that Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on major trading partners could drive price increases.
Nonetheless, the data is a sign that the politically toxic economic force, which played a major role in turning the public against Joe Biden’s presidency, has not worsened, though it still is not where the inflation-fighting Federal Reserve would like it to be.
Here’s more on the latest data:
Knowing what’s on the mind of Donald Trump is a difficult thing to do, but it’s fair to say that Republican congressman Thomas Massie appears to currently be living rent-free in his head.
The president was up into the wee hours of this morning, attacking the Kentucky lawmaker. Why? Because he was the sole Republican no vote on the House GOP’s government funding bill yesterday. On Truth Social, his preferred method of communication despite his X account being reactivated, Trump wrote this, at 1.23am:
So Massie can vote for Debt Ceiling AND Budget to be put into the Trump Administration, making them both the Republicans problem and responsibility, but can’t give us a simple Continuing Resolution vote allowing us the time necessary to come up with a ‘GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL??? Republicans only ‘NO Vote. GRANDSTANDER!
The “GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL” Trump is referring to is a forthcoming piece of legislation he expects Congress to produce that will enact his administration’s priorities, including extending tax cuts, paying for mass deportations, and approving energy policies that spur oil and gas production.
Passing that bill is expected to be a tough haul for the Republican-controlled Congress, particularly in the House, where the GOP’s margin is a small as a single seat. A defection by Massie, and perhaps other lawmakers, could imperil that upcoming legislation’s prospects of enactment, and thus, Trump is warning him and anyone else who oppose the party’s line that he’ll attack them personally if they resist.
We’ll be seeing Donald Trump a little earlier then usual this morning, when he welcomes Micheál Martin, the taoiseach of Ireland, to the White House at 10.45am.
They’re expected to take a few questions before retiring for meetings. Trump later goes to the US Capitol for the Friends of Ireland Luncheon, then back to the White House for a St Patrick’s Day reception with Martin.
Big day for Ireland in Washington. Also, many opportunities for Trump to take questions from the press and weigh in on whatever it is that might be on his mind.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said on Wednesday that the minerals deal will give the US a “vested interest’” in Ukraine’s security.
He added that Europeans will “have to be involved” in Ukraine diplomacy, according to Agence France-Presse.
We have a separate blog covering the latest news in Europe, including the ceasefire negotiations in Ukraine, and you can follow it here:
This explainer by my colleague, Abené Clayton, breaks down who Mehmet Oz, Trump’s pick to lead Medicare and Medicaid, is and provides a timeline of his questionable medical advice and time in politics:
US senator Warren demands Medicare nominee Mehmet Oz sever industry ties
Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the agency overseeing Medicare should divest financial ties to healthcare and pharmaceutical companies that could benefit from his policy decisions, Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Television personality and surgeon Mehmet Oz is scheduled to appear on Friday before the Senate finance committee, on which Warren sits. The panel will hold a confirmation hearing for his nomination to be administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a wide-reaching agency with annual spending of $2.6tn.
In a letter addressed to him seen by Reuters, Warren called on Oz to divest from his financial holdings related to industries regulated by the agency and commit to strong ethics safeguards.
Oz owns healthcare stocks in UnitedHealth Group, which administers Medicare Advantage plans, and drugmakers Abbvie and Eli Lilly, which manufacture drugs the agency negotiates prices for, his latest ethics disclosure shows. He owns stocks and serves as adviser to several companies selling nutritional supplements, medical diagnostic technologies and botanical products, as well as a cardiology practice and a retirement resort, reports Reuters.
Oz has offered to divest much of that and resign his advisory posts, Warren noted with appreciation. “Still, given your close ties to the industry that you would regulate, if you are confirmed, the public would have reason to question your impartiality and commitment to serving the public’s interest,” she wrote, according to Reuters.
Oz must fully divest from these conflicts and pledge not to use his position to enrich himself or his business associates, she said. This would exceed the legally required divestment. She also called for Oz to commit to a four-year lobbying ban after leaving his post.
Warren has been successful in getting information out of Trump’s nominees; she pressed secretary of health and human services Robert F Kennedy Jr on his conflicts in a similar letter that led to his updating his ethics agreement and revealing further conflicts.
Reuters reports that the letter is unlikely to affect Oz’s chances of getting confirmed. Republicans control the Senate and have so far allowed even the most controversial of Trump’s nominees to sail through the process.
The agency runs Medicare, the federal health insurance programme for people aged 65 or older and disabled people, and oversees Medicaid, the state-based health insurance programme for low-income people. The two programmes provide health insurance for more than 140 million people in the US. It also runs the main programme for income-based government-subsidised health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. Oz would take over at a time when Republicans are proposing deep cuts to Medicaid, reports Reuters.
Peter Beaumont
A growing international move to boycott the US is spreading from Scandinavia to Canada to the UK and beyond as consumers turn against US goods.
Most prominent so far has been the rejection by European car buyers of the Teslas produced by Elon Musk, now a prominent figure in Trump’s administration as the head of the “department of government efficiency” a special group created by Trump that has contributed to the precipitous declines in Tesla’s share price. About 15% of its value was wiped out on Monday alone.
The fall in Tesla sales in Europe has been well documented, as has a Canadian consumer boycott in response to trade tariffs and Trump’s calls for Canada to become America’s 51st state, but the past week has seen daily reports of cultural and other forms of boycotts and disinvestment.
In Canada, where the American national anthem has been booed during hockey matches with US teams, a slew of apps has emerged with names such as “buy beaver”, “maple scan” and “is this Canadian” to allow shoppers to scan QR barcodes and reject US produce from alcohol to pizza toppings.
Figures released this week suggested the number of Canadians taking road trips to the US – representing the majority of Canadians who normally visit – had dropped by 23% compared with February 2024, according to Statistics Canada.
While Canada and Mexico have been at the frontline of Trump’s trade war, the boycott movement is visible far beyond countries whose economies have been targeted.
In Sweden, about 40,000 users have joined a Facebook group calling for a boycott of US companies – ironically including Facebook itself – which features alternatives to US consumer products.
“I’ll replace as many American goods as I can and if many do so, it will clearly affect the supply in stores,” wrote one member of the group.
