Shots fired in the US-Canada trade war a tariffs on US$12.6 billion of American goods kick in

Canada began imposing tariffs Sunday on US$12.6 billion in US goods as retaliation for the Trump administration’s new taxes on steel and aluminium imported to the United States.

Some US products, mostly steel and iron, face 25 per cent tariffs, the same penalty the United States slapped on imported steel at the end of May.

Other US imports, from ketchup to pizza to dishwasher detergent, will face a 10 per cent tariff at the Canadian border, the same as America’s tax on imported aluminium.

Trump had enraged Canada and other US allies by declaring imported steel and aluminium a threat to America’s national security and therefore a legitimate target for US tariffs. Canada is the United States’ second-biggest trading partner in goods, just behind China.

Speaking Sunday in Leamington, Ontario, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thanked Canadians for standing united against President Donald Trump’s sanctions. He urged Canadians to “make their choices accordingly” in considering whether to buy American products.

The selection of Leamington, known as Canada’s tomato capital, was no accident.

The town is home to a food-processing plant that supplies tomato paste and other products to French’s, a major competitor of Kraft Heinz. Heinz left Canada and sold its Leamington plant in 2014, after 105 years of Canadian operations.