Trump says he will impose 50 percent tariffs on Canadian goods in 30 days

President Donald Trump announced Monday that he will impose 50 percent tariffs on most Canadian goods effective in 30 days unless Canada drops what the administration called "discriminatory" trade barriers against U.S. products. The move comes one day after Trump threatened to impose tariffs in retaliation for wildfires in Ontario that sent thick smoke pouring into the United States late last week. After watching Sunday's World Cup final alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump told reporters that the subject had come up. "Our air has been poisoned. Have a good relationship with Mark Carney, but you know we got to stop the fires up there. If we can help them, we'll help them. But maybe they should pay us some damages or something, or we should do some tariffs," the president said Sunday. On Monday, however, a senior administration official said the president's latest tariff action was unrelated to his irritation over the wildfires. Instead, the official said, the president was acting in response to Canada's retaliation for emergency tariffs Trump imposed in April 2025, when U.S. alcohol was removed from Canadian store shelves. That would probably hit consumers with higher prices ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, exacerbating the administration's political challenges with affordability, said Ed Gresser, vice president of the Progressive Policy Institute in D.C. and a former U.S. trade official. "If you as a family or you as a business were hoping for some relief this fall, you're not going to get it. Things are going to get more expensive," Gresser said. "The fact that it's delayed 30 days makes me think it's a negotiating tactic," said Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding, who served in the U.S. Trade Representative's Office during the first Trump administration. "It seems like leverage."