LILLLEY: Ottawa’s latest tariffs mean higher prices and more questions

Carney's government says it had to walk away from a U.S. trade deal, but Canadians deserve to know exactly why.

Published Aug 25, 2026  •  3 minute read

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at a working lunch with leaders of G7 and the Middle East in Evian-les-Bains, France on June 16, 2026. Photo by Evelyn Hockstein-Pool /Pool/AFP via Getty Images

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Thinking about buying a new fridge? Thanks to Ottawa’s latest tariffs, it may have just become more expensive, along with the meat, fish, and beer you keep inside.

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On Tuesday, the Carney government announced a barrage of new tariffs on nearly $28 billion worth of American goods.

Canada has revealed its counter-tariffs, and we can likely expect further trade measures from the United States.

Starting on Sept. 8, tariffs ranging from 15% to 50% will be applied to a whole range of American imports, from kitchen appliances like fridges and stoves to meat, fish, the aluminum cans that your beer and pop go into, clothing, make-up, springs, clamps, and a whole range of industrial inputs.

“On August 22, the United States of America imposed tariffs on 50% on approximately $28 billion in Canadian goods. Those tariffs will have real consequences for Canadian workers, businesses, and communities across our nation. Canada must respond, and today we are in a proportionate, targeted, and strategic way,” Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said at an Ottawa news conference.

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Price tags go up

A week ago, it appeared that there was a deal with the United States to lower tariffs. Then, just before midnight on Friday, the deal fell apart and Champagne, like Carney, refused to give details while claiming to be standing up for Canada’s economy.

“They asked too much of Canada and offered too little in return. Accepting them would have harmed our workers,” he said.

The deal, at least based on the details we’ve been told, was a bad one. The American push to keep 25% tariffs on medium- and heavy-duty pickup trucks currently made at Oshawa’s GM plant and soon to be made by Ford in Oakville was one major reason the deal was unacceptable.

Still, the Carney government should be giving the public greater insight into why it walked away. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has supported the government’s decision to walk away from trade talks while also calling for more details on why the government decided that a deal it had boasted about last Wednesday was unacceptable by Friday.

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If there is no text of a deal, or if it contains things they don’t feel they can release, then the government should at least provide a decent amount of detail on the five unacceptable issues that were on the table.

Canadians deserve answers

Several times since Saturday, the Carney Liberals have claimed sovereignty was at stake and that they needed to defend it. The word sovereignty was used several times during Tuesday’s news conference and in the accompanying news release.

And yet, at the start of the event, Liberal MP Mona Fortier took to the microphone to essentially tell everyone they were on stolen land.

“I would like to acknowledge that we are gathered today on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe,” Fortier said.

Unceded means it was never sold, handed over or transferred. We’re all used to the strange performance that land acknowledgements bring, but reading one out while defending Canada’s sovereignty is bizarre.

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In response to the counter-tariffs, Donald Trump and his White House released a new series of threats and complaints, well beyond threatening to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America. He can’t really do that, at least not on an international level, but if he tries, Ontario Premier Doug Ford should rename Trump Lake near Sudbury and put up a plaque.

War of words escalates

“Canada has been ripping off the United States for decades — and President Donald J. Trump is done letting them get away with it,” read the start of a statement from Trump’s White House.

The statement went on to list many of Trump’s favourite grievances, from the booze ban to dairy, autos to aviation. He also claimed once again that Canada couldn’t survive without the United States.

All of this comes after the war of words between Trump and Ford on Monday, with words like loser and flunky being thrown around. Unless both sides get back to the table soon, Canadians should brace for things to get worse.

Trade wars make for great political theatre. They also make groceries, beer and fridges more expensive. Canadians are about to find that out again.

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