Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will hit back at the United States with dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs beginning next month after negotiations for a trade deal collapsed over what he called “unfair” last-minute U.S. demands. 

The U.S. introduced new 50 per cent tariffs on billions of dollars in Canadian exports on Saturday after trade talks failed. 

The new tariffs would hit roughly $28 billion in value of Canadian goods.

Carney formally suspended talks with the United States and summoned his negotiators back to Ottawa.

Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill on Saturday, Carney said Canada is walking away from a “bad deal” with the U.S. and will diversify trade abroad.

“In short, they asked too much and offered too little,” Carney said. 

He said Canada will match Washington’s new tariffs dollar-for-dollar and that the levies will be targeted at sectors such as steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper and electronics. 

Carney says the counter tariffs will come into force on Sept. 8, the day after Labour Day.

During the address, Carney reaffirmed Canada’s objectives in the latest talks, which included preserving tariff-free U.S. market access for the vast majority of Canadian businesses, reducing U.S. tariffs on key industries, and protecting medium sized businesses including removing imminent threat to new tariffs. 

He cited that before the talk collapsed, Ottawa was willing to drop remaining retaliatory tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos if the U.S. tariffs were substantially reduced. However, the U.S. continued to push for changes that would affect Canadian sovereignty, including Canadian cultural and French-language protection, online discoverability rules, he said. 

When asked how the government plans to protect workers who would be affected by the tariffs, Carney said they will “do whatever it takes” to support these businesses. 

“We’re going to provide full tariff protection there to prevent American businesses from coming in and taking it, so that’s the advice,” he said. 

Additionally, he promised more business support will come next week, while referring to regional development agencies and the Business Development Bank of Canada as delivery mechanisms. 

This fall, the government will also focus Budget 2026 on Canadian businesses, with strategy targeting investors. 

Carney added that the breakdown also means there will be “less opportunity” to cooperate with Washington on critical minerals. 

“That is a missed opportunity as a consequence of what’s happened, but we didn’t cause it to happen.” 

Carney said Canada has struck roughly 50 critical-minerals deals representing about $50 billion in transactions over the past year, as Ottawa expanded cooperation with G7 and other allies. 

When asked whether his tougher tone meant the prime minister was “going to war,” Carney said Canada was responding to an attack from Washington. 

“Because we were attacked,” Carney said. “We got attacked. We waited until the United States decided to actually implement these so-called 338 tariffs.”  

“We’re going to focus on what we can control.” 

The prime minister is scheduled to chair a cabinet meeting, followed by talks with provincial and territories premiers today.

With files from the Canadian Press.

More to come…