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List of items Canadians will pay 25% tariffs on includes US made orange juice, wine, beer, and clothing

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From the Department of Finance Canada

Canada Announces $155B Tariff Package in Response to U.S. Tariffs

Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs, and Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced that the Government of Canada is moving forward with 25 per cent tariffs on $155 billion worth of goods in response to the unjustified and unreasonable tariffs imposed by the United States (U.S.) on Canadian goods.

These countermeasures have one goal: to protect and defend Canada’s interests, consumers, workers, and businesses.

The first phase of our response will include tariffs on $30 billion in goods imported from the U.S., effective February 4, 2025, when the U.S tariffs are applied. The list includes products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper. A detailed list of these goods will be made available shortly.

Minister LeBlanc also announced that the government intends to impose tariffs on an additional list of imported U.S. goods worth $125 billion. A full list of these goods will be made available for a 21-day public comment period prior to implementation, and will include products such as passenger vehicles and trucks, including electric vehicles, steel and aluminum products, certain fruits and vegetables, aerospace products, beef, pork, dairy, trucks and buses, recreational vehicles, and recreational boats.

In addition to this initial response, Ministers LeBlanc and Joly reiterated that all options remain on the table as the government considers additional measures, including non-tariff options, should the U.S. continue to apply unjustified tariffs on Canada.

Less than 1 per cent of the fentanyl and illegal crossings into the United States come from Canada. We will not stand idly by when our nation is being needlessly and unfairly targeted. The government will defend Canadian interests and jobs. We stand ready to support affected workers and businesses.

The U.S. administration’s decision to impose tariffs will have devastating consequences for the American economy and people. Tariffs will upend production at U.S. auto assembly plants and oil refineries, raise costs for American consumers—at gas pumps and grocery stores—and put American prosperity at risk.

The government is also taking steps to mitigate the impact of its tariff countermeasures on Canadian workers and businesses by establishing a remission process to consider requests for exceptional relief from the tariffs imposed as part of Canada’s immediate response, as well as any future tariff actions. More details about the framework and process will be announced in the coming days.

The government continues to work closely with provincial and territorial governments, as well as business, labour, and other leaders to advance a robust Team Canada response, and to advocate with U.S. decision-makers on behalf of all Canadians to safeguard and strengthen Canada’s economy.

“This first set of countermeasures is about protecting—and supporting—Canada’s interests, workers, and industries. These U.S. tariffs are plainly unjustified. They are detrimental to both American and Canadian families and businesses. Working with provincial, territorial and industry partners, our singular focus is to get them removed as quickly as possible. Until then, our response will be balanced and resolute.”

– The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc,
Minister of Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs

“Canada will not stand by as the U.S., our closest and most important trading partner, applies harmful and unjustified tariffs against us. With these countermeasures, we are defending Canada’s interests and are doing what is best for Canadians and our economy.”

– The Honourable Mélanie Joly,
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Quick facts

  • Canada is the top customer for U.S. goods and services exports and a critical supplier of goods and services integral to the U.S. economy, with Canada buying more U.S. goods than China, Japan, France and the United Kingdom combined.
  • Millions of jobs on both sides of the border depend on this relationship, and every day over US$2.5 billion worth of goods and services crosses the border.
  • Canada is the largest export market for 36 states and is among the top three for 46 states, with 43 states exporting over US$1 billion to Canada every year.
  • Of the U.S.’s top five trading partners, Canada is the only country with whom the U.S. has a trade surplus in manufacturing (US$33 billion in 2023).
  • The tariffs announced today by the Government of Canada will not apply to U.S. goods that are in transit to Canada on the day on which these countermeasures come into force.
  • As a first line of defence, Canada’s robust system of economic support programs is available to help businesses and workers directly impacted by U.S. tariffs. This includes financing and advisory supports for businesses through financial Crown corporations and supports for workers through the Employment Insurance program. As we redouble our efforts to improve Canada’s investment, productivity and competitiveness in collaboration with provinces, territories and the business community, the government will proactively monitor impacts across sectors and the economy, and will bring forward additional measures to support workers and businesses as needed.
  • On December 17, 2024, the Government of Canada announced Canada’s Border Plan, which aims to bolster border security, strengthen our immigration system, and keep Canadians safe.
  • The Plan is backed by an investment of $1.3 billion and built around five pillars: 1) Detecting and disrupting fentanyl trade; 2) Introducing significant new tools for law enforcement; 3) Enhancing operational coordination; 4) Increasing information sharing; and 5) Minimizing unnecessary border volumes.

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Massive government child-care plan wreaking havoc across Ontario

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From the Fraser Institute

By Matthew Lau

It’s now more than four years since the federal Liberal government pledged $30 billion in spending over five years for $10-per-day national child care, and more than three years since Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government signed a $13.2 billion deal with the federal government to deliver this child-care plan.

Not surprisingly, with massive government funding came massive government control. While demand for child care has increased due to the government subsidies and lower out-of-pocket costs for parents, the plan significantly restricts how child-care centres operate (including what items participating centres may purchase), and crucially, caps the proportion of government funds available to private for-profit providers.

What have families and taxpayers got for this enormous government effort? Widespread child-care shortages across Ontario.

For example, according to the City of Ottawa, the number of children (aged 0 to 5 years) on child-care waitlists has ballooned by more than 300 per cent since 2019, there are significant disparities in affordable child-care access “with nearly half of neighbourhoods underserved, and limited access in suburban and rural areas,” and families face “significantly higher” costs for before-and-after-school care for school-age children.

In addition, Ottawa families find the system “complex and difficult to navigate” and “fewer child care options exist for children with special needs.” And while 42 per cent of surveyed parents need flexible child care (weekends, evenings, part-time care), only one per cent of child-care centres offer these flexible options. These are clearly not encouraging statistics, and show that a government-knows-best approach does not properly anticipate the diverse needs of diverse families.

Moreover, according to the Peel Region’s 2025 pre-budget submission to the federal government (essentially, a list of asks and recommendations), it “has maximized its for-profit allocation, leaving 1,460 for-profit spaces on a waitlist.” In other words, families can’t access $10-per-day child care—the central promise of the plan—because the government has capped the number of for-profit centres.

Similarly, according to Halton Region’s pre-budget submission to the provincial government, “no additional families can be supported with affordable child care” because, under current provincial rules, government funding can only be used to reduce child-care fees for families already in the program.

And according to a March 2025 Oxford County report, the municipality is experiencing a shortage of child-care staff and access challenges for low-income families and children with special needs. The report includes a grim bureaucratic predication that “provincial expansion targets do not reflect anticipated child care demand.”

Child-care access is also a problem provincewide. In Stratford, which has a population of roughly 33,000, the municipal government reports that more than 1,000 children are on a child-care waitlist. Similarly in Port Colborne (population 20,000), the city’s chief administrative officer told city council in April 2025 there were almost 500 children on daycare waitlists at the beginning of the school term. As of the end of last year, Guelph and Wellington County reportedly had a total of 2,569 full-day child-care spaces for children up to age four, versus a waitlist of 4,559 children—in other words, nearly two times as many children on a waitlist compared to the number of child-care spaces.

More examples. In Prince Edward County, population around 26,000, there are more than 400 children waitlisted for licensed daycare. In Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County, the child-care waitlist is about 1,500 children long and the average wait time is four years. And in St. Mary’s, there are more than 600 children waitlisted for child care, but in recent years town staff have only been able to move 25 to 30 children off the wait list annually.

The numbers speak for themselves. Massive government spending and control over child care has created havoc for Ontario families and made child-care access worse. This cannot be a surprise. Quebec’s child-care system has been largely government controlled for decades, with poor results. Why would Ontario be any different? And how long will Premier Ford allow this debacle to continue before he asks the new prime minister to rethink the child-care policy of his predecessor?

Matthew Lau

Adjunct Scholar, Fraser Institute
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Canada Caves: Carney ditches digital services tax after criticism from Trump

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From The Center Square

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Canada caved to President Donald Trump demands by pulling its digital services tax hours before it was to go into effect on Monday.

Trump said Friday that he was ending all trade talks with Canada over the digital services tax, which he called a direct attack on the U.S. and American tech firms. The DST required foreign and domestic businesses to pay taxes on some revenue earned from engaging with online users in Canada.

“Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately,” the president said. “We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period.”

By Sunday, Canada relented in an effort to resume trade talks with the U.S., it’s largest trading partner.

“To support those negotiations, the Minister of Finance and National Revenue, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, announced today that Canada would rescind the Digital Services Tax (DST) in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States,” according to a statement from Canada’s Department of Finance.

Canada’s Department of Finance said that Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump agreed to resume negotiations, aiming to reach a deal by July 21.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Monday that the digital services tax would hurt the U.S.

“Thank you Canada for removing your Digital Services Tax which was intended to stifle American innovation and would have been a deal breaker for any trade deal with America,” he wrote on X.

Earlier this month, the two nations seemed close to striking a deal.

Trump said he and Carney had different concepts for trade between the two neighboring countries during a meeting at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, in the Canadian Rockies.

Asked what was holding up a trade deal between the two nations at that time, Trump said they had different concepts for what that would look like.

“It’s not so much holding up, I think we have different concepts, I have a tariff concept, Mark has a different concept, which is something that some people like, but we’re going to see if we can get to the bottom of it today.”

Shortly after taking office in January, Trump hit Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs for allowing fentanyl and migrants to cross their borders into the U.S. Trump later applied those 25% tariffs only to goods that fall outside the free-trade agreement between the three nations, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Trump put a 10% tariff on non-USMCA compliant potash and energy products. A 50% tariff on aluminum and steel imports from all countries into the U.S. has been in effect since June 4. Trump also put a 25% tariff on all cars and trucks not built in the U.S.

Economists, businesses and some publicly traded companies have warned that tariffs could raise prices on a wide range of consumer products.

Trump has said he wants to use tariffs to restore manufacturing jobs lost to lower-wage countries in decades past, shift the tax burden away from U.S. families, and pay down the national debt.

A tariff is a tax on imported goods paid by the person or company that imports them. The importer can absorb the cost of the tariffs or try to pass the cost on to consumers through higher prices.

Trump’s tariffs give U.S.-produced goods a price advantage over imported goods, generating revenue for the federal government.

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