Trump slams 35% tariff on Canada, mulls 20% for others

United States President Donald Trump has declared that the U.S. would impose a 35% tariff on Canadian imports in August 2025.

Trump added that the United States also planned to impose blanket tariffs of 15% or 20% on most other trading partners.

In a letter released on his social media platform on Thursday, July 10, 2025, Trump told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney the new rate would go into effect on August 1 and would go up if Canada retaliated.

In a post on X late on Thursday, Carney said his government will continue to defend Canadian workers and businesses in their negotiations with the U.S. as they work towards that deadline.

The 35% tariff is an increase from the current 25% rate that Trump had assigned to Canada and is a blow to Carney, who was seeking to agree a trade pact with Washington.

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An exclusion for goods covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on trade was expected to stay in place, and 10% tariffs on energy and fertilizer were also not set to change, though Trump had not made a final decision on those issues, an administration official told Reuters.

Trump complained in his letter about what he referred to as the flow of fentanyl from Canada as well as the country’s tariff and non-tariff trade barriers that hurt U.S. dairy farmers and others.

He said the trade deficit was a threat to the U.S. economy and national security.

“If Canada works with me to stop the flow of Fentanyl, we will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter,” Trump wrote.

The Star