CHICAGO (AP) 鈥� President barrage of 鈥� and threats of even more 鈥� has strained the United States’ longstanding relationship with Canada.
Over the course of his second term in office, Trump has threatened Canada’s economy and sovereignty with steep new import taxes on its goods. He’s gone as far as suggesting that his northern neighbor could be That rhetoric 鈥� paired with volleys of on-again, off-again new tariffs 鈥� has , whose government has responded with its own retaliatory measures. All the while, uncertainty for businesses and consumers across both sides of the border only grows.
Most recently, Trump followed through on a threat on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports. Those levies kicked in Saturday after failed, and Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney quickly promised to match the new import taxes.
Here’s a timeline of how we got here.
January-March 2025: 鈥楾rafficking tariffs’ back-and-forth
On his first day back in office, Trump says he on imports from Canada.
The president later to impose 25% tariffs on imports from Canada starting Feb. 4, 2025 鈥� by declaring a national emergency over . Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promises retaliatory levies.
But the tariffs soon get pushed back, cooling tensions at least temporarily. Trump first agrees to a 30-day pause, and more limited tariffs on Canadian imports kick in March 4. Within days, the U.S. rolls out an additional exemption for automakers and postpones the 25% tariff on goods that comply with the US-Mexico Canada Agreement, a trade pact from Trump’s first term.
Meanwhile, worldwide, Trump鈥檚 鈥� which now tax imports of both metals at 25% 鈥� still . Canada worth $29.8 billion Canadian dollars ($20.7 billion) on U.S. imports.
April-June 2025: More global levies
Trump 鈥渞eciprocal鈥� tariffs on nearly all of America鈥檚 trading partners on April 2, 2025, but doesn鈥檛 unveil additional levies on Canada.
Trump soon faces legal challenges to these sweeping tariffs he invoked emergency powers to impose 鈥� which beyond 鈥渞eciprocal鈥� levies, include the 25% rate he slapped on Canadian goods earlier in the year. The U.S. Court of International Trade in late May 2025, but a federal appeals court quickly .
Meanwhile, separate sectoral levies continue to pile up worldwide. Trump鈥檚 sweeping also begin in April 2025, and Canada’s Carney responds by matching the 25% rate with a
Trump鈥檚 new 50% tariffs of nearly all foreign steel and aluminum later . Carney similarly on U.S. steel and aluminum starting in July, pending progress of trade talks. Negotiations hit a after at Canada’s plans to continue with a tax on tech firms, which Carney soon walks back on.
July-October 2025: Trade talks whiplash
Trade tensions bubble up again in the second half of the year. Trump and then imposes a heightened 35% tariff rate on Canadian goods . Globally, the U.S.鈥檚 new 50% levy on imported copper also kicks in the same day.
Later that month, Carney says Canada to match U.S. exemptions for goods covered under the USMCA pact. Critics decry the move as capitulation to Trump, but the prime minister maintains Canada is in a good position and that such exemptions would jump-start further trade talks.
All the while, Trump imposes more tariffs worldwide in the coming weeks and months and ends on Aug. 29 for low-value imports coming into the U.S.
In late October, Carney outlines plans for in the next decade, citing the affects of Trump’s tariffs. Separately, Trump’s anger over a television ad opposing U.S. tariffs on all trade talks with Canada. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose provincial government paid for the ad, later says so talks may resume, although Trump still .
November 2025-February 2026: Supreme Court ruling
Trump’s legal fight over the tariffs he imposed using emergency powers eventually , with arguments . In February, a those import taxes 鈥� levies imposed on Canada. Trump quickly enacts a temporary 10% global levy using a different law.
U.S.-Canada trade relations had been souring ahead of that ruling. Notably in January, Canada’s Carney with China 鈥� and in a break from the U.S., soon agrees to . An angry Trump later threatens an (eventually unrealized) that he says he will impose if Canada moves forward with a trade deal with China, but Carney says his country a more sweeping agreement.
Trump at one point also on Canadian aircraft sold to the U.S., but that similarly goes unrealized. He also to block the opening of a across the Detroit River.
March-present day: USMCA and latest 50% tariffs
Negotiations to renew the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, 鈥� and ahead of the official , Canada calls for the pact to be .
But the outlook remains cloudy. And the U.S. eventually rules that that pact for that length of time, leaving the current USMCA in effect until at least its 2036 expiration date.
Then later in July, Trump threatens to . He says the U.S. will slap 50% levies 鈥� including those previously-protected under the USMCA 鈥� while claiming that Canada unfairly discriminates against U.S. automobiles, alcohol and dairy products.
Those levies were originally slated to start kicking in Aug. 19. the U.S. had reached a deal with Canada to delay the taxes until at least Saturday (Aug. 22), but its , and when last-minute negotiations failed, the just after midnight.
The 50% tariffs tax about 5% of what every year, including products that range from hockey sticks to tongue depressors. Carney promises to match them 鈥渄ollar for dollar” with retaliatory tariffs taking effect Sept. 8.
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