Canada has announced reprisal prices against the United States, in a decision that marks the start of a trade war between neighboring countries.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau established “large -scale” prices of 25%, affecting $ 155 billion (106.6 billion dollars; 86 billion pounds sterling) from American products ranging from beer and wine to devices Appliances and sports products.
This decision corresponds to US President Donald Trump 25% deduction from Canadian and Mexican imports to the United States – and an additional 10% on China – on his concerns about illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
Trudeau said he “would not back down to defend Canadians”, but warned the real consequences for people on both sides of the border.
“We don’t want to be here, we didn’t ask for this,” he said at a late press conference on Saturday.
The Canadian Prime Minister added that prices on American products of 30 billion people would come into effect on Tuesday and $ 125 billion in 21 days to give Canadian companies time to adapt.
Trudeau’s response targets articles, including American beer, wine, bourbon, fruit and fruit juices, vegetables, perfumes, clothes and shoes, as well as household appliances, sports items and furniture.
Wood and plastics will also face withdrawals and non -pricing measures are also taken into account are linked to critical minerals and purchases.
Economists have warned the introduction of import taxes by the United States, and Canada’s response, as well as Mexico and China, could increase prices on a wide range of consumer products.
A price is an internal tax taken from the goods when they enter a country, proportional to the value of importation.
The prospect of higher prices introduced on imports in the United States has concerned many world leaders, as it will make companies more expensive to sell goods in the largest economy in the world.
Christopher Sands, director of the Wilson Center’s Canada Institute, told the BBC that the prices of tit-form between the United States and Canada were “a mutually assured destruction” and that they would have an impact very quickly on the people ‘life.
He said that there would be no time of adjustment, because the American Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had recently proposed: “Just a huge blow that will make a lot of lives of people much more difficult, very quickly.”
But taxes are a central element of Trump’s economic vision. He considers them as a way to develop the American economy, protect jobs and increase tax revenue – and in this case, put pressure for political action.
Canada, Mexico and the United States have deeply integrated savings, with around $ 2 billion (1.6 billion pounds sterling) of manufactured products crossing borders daily.
Canada is the largest Foreign Supplier of Broken Oil in America. According to the latest official trade figures, 61% of petroleum imported into the United States between January and November of last year came from Canada.
While 25% was slapped on Canadian products imported into the United States, its energy faces a price of 10%.
The White House said on Saturday that the implementation of prices was “necessary to hold China, Mexico and Canada responsible for stopping the flow of toxic drugs in the United States”.
But Trudeau rejected the suggestion that the shared border poses a security problem, saying that less than 1% of the fentanyl entering the United States comes from Canada.
He added that less than 1% of illegal migrants entered the United States through the border and that prices were “not the best way to work together to save lives”
Trump said he was ready to further degenerate the tasks if the countries were working at his prices, as Canada did.
Before the prices were announced, Canada promised more than $ 1 billion to increase security at its border shared with the United States.
Trudeau said on Saturday had not spoken to Trump since he had taken office.
Mark Carney, the former Central Banks in Canada and England, BBC Newsnight on Friday, prices were going to reach economic growth and increase inflation.
“They will harm the reputation of the United States in the world,” said Carney, who is also in the running to replace Trudeau as head of the Liberal Party of Canada.
