Trump's trade war goes global: U.S. president blows up postwar order
After spending a few weeks pounding on Canada and Mexico, Donald Trump turned his attention Wednesday to a whole new target: the rest of Planet Earth.
The U.S. president broadened his trade war by imposing the widest set of tariffs in generations, effectively resetting the postwar trading system.
The only good news for Canada, such as it is, is that when Trump came swinging fast and furiously with new tariffs, it took no new lumps.
The good news ends there.
The bad news is that previously announced tariffs will remain in place: potentially devastating auto tariffs that kick in Thursday, steel and aluminum tariffs of 25 per cent, 10 per cent on energy and potash, and 25 per cent on certain other goods.
For Trump, this was a personal Kodak moment.
WATCH | Tariffs start at 10%:
Trump announces 10% 'baseline' tariff
5 hours ago
Duration 0:28
After showing a chart listing the various tariff percentages he will be charging some countries — Canada and Mexico were not on the chart — U.S. President Donald Trump said there would be a 10 per cent 'minimum baseline' tariff on goods from foreign countries.
Standing on the White House lawn, he referred to this as the culmination of an old dream, given his decades as a dyed-in-the-wool protectionist.
"I've been talking about it for 40 years," Trump said.
"If you look at my old speeches when I was young, very handsome, in my old speeches… I'd be talking about how we were being ripped off by these countries."
He added: "It's such an honour to be finally able to do this."
And by "this" he meant imposing tariffs ranging from 10 per cent to an eye-watering 50 per cent on some countries — shocking not only markets, but potentially realigning the planet's geopolitical map, with the U.S. retrenching to this hemisphere.
That said, elements of the plan appeared hastily slapped together. Trump's list included several non-countries, such as the unpopulated Heard and McDonald Islands, a barren Antarctic archipelago belonging to Australia that now faces a 10 per cent tariff.
Asia's out, Latin America's in
We'll see which countries, if any, negotiate a better deal. But the initial pattern is clear: Trump has flipped the tables on Asia.
There, where the U.S. had been cultivating allies against China, trading partners now face tariffs of 46 per cent (Vietnam), 49 per cent (Cambodia), 24 per cent (Japan), 32 per cent (Taiwan), 26 per cent (India) and 37 per cent (Bangladesh). China also got a 34-per-cent tariff.
Anyone selling clothing or electronics into the U.S. now has some incentive to shift production to Latin America, where tariffs are mostly 10 per cent.
"I do think there's huge geopolitical implications," said Chad Bown, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute in Washington, and former chief economist of the Biden State Department.
But he added an important caveat.
There's so much uncertainty about how long these tariffs will last, and it takes time to redesign supply chains, so it's unclear anyone can make long-term investment assumptions based on Wednesday's numbers.
The waves of uncertainty are certainly rippling through Canada. And, within Canada, no place risks being harder hit than auto country.
Canada faces pain
A tangle of tariffs is set to take effect on Canada's biggest manufactured product — it's up to 25 per cent on fully assembled vehicles and some parts, while other parts face none.
A southern Ontario auto worker says his colleagues are afraid to make big purchases now, fearing layoffs.
"It's going to be a hell of a time," Jayson Mercier told CBC News. "Here we are again, similar to [the economic crisis of] 2008 — where we don't know if we're going to have a job."
One Canadian-American trade consultant says Canada fared better than most countries in Wednesday's announcement. But that's cold comfort for certain sectors, he added.
"Autos is going to be massively impactful for Canada," said Eric Miller, the Canadian-born head of the Rideau Potomac consultancy in Washington.
"That's a huge amount of pain for Canada. And you will see a huge amount of restructuring and realignment in the North American auto sector."
WATCH | Canada will fight tariffs, Carney says:
Carney says Canada will 'fight' latest Trump tariffs
3 hours ago
Duration 1:38
Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking from Parliament Hill on Wednesday, says Canada will act with 'purpose and with force' to fight new U.S. tariffs. President Donald Trump slapped new 25 per cent tariffs on foreign-made cars, but Canada was spared the 10 per cent baseline tariffs applied to many other countries.
One industry player put it even more bluntly in a social media post. He predicted an industry standstill within days, and not just in Canada.
"The. Auto. Tariff. Package. Will. Shut. Down. The. Auto. Sector. In. The. USA. And. In. Canada," Flavio Volpe, head of Canada's auto-parts lobby, wrote on X.
"Don't be distracted. 25% tariffs are 4 times the 6/7% profit margins of all the companies. Math, not art."
Certain goods traded under the rules of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement face no tariffs, under exemptions Trump announced weeks ago.
Estimates vary on how many goods will face duties, but it appears most of Canada's exports to the U.S. now indeed face tariffs.
"I'm not sure anybody knows [the exact percentage] at the moment," Bown said.
In Washington, tariff opponents rained on Trump's big moment.
As he began speaking, the Republican-led U.S. Senate began hours of debate on a mostly symbolic vote to repudiate his tariffs on Canada.
Some members of Trump's own party voted with Democrats in a no-hope bid to cancel the first batch of Canada tariffs. It's a doomed effort, even though it passed the Senate, 51-48. The House doesn't plan to take it up, and Trump would veto it anyway.
But it was intended to deliver a political black eye to Trump on the day he announced his tariffs, with those on Canada being especially unpopular, according to polls.
The first speaker was Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator who was one of the few Republicans backing the measure.
He tore a strip off Trump's actions — calling them "crazy."
Paul ridiculed Trump's idea that Canada represents a national security threat because of the fentanyl trade. He said more fentanyl comes from the U.S. than the other way, called Canada a valuable trading partner, and said Trump will drive up costs for Americans.
Plus, the libertarian-leaning lawmaker blasted the idea on principle.
He said there's nearly a millennium-long tradition, going back to the Magna Carta, through the American Revolution, that it should be a legislature to approve a new tax — not just one leader.
That's exactly what opponents are calling Trump's plan: the largest sudden tax increase in American history.
"Taxation without representation is tyranny," Paul said. "Conservatives used to understand that tariffs are taxes on the American people."
He added: "What happened? Did we all of a sudden give up all the things we used to believe in?"
Lately, for Republicans, there is no authority higher than Trump's. They could stop this if they wanted to, through the Congress.
It has a constitutional role in international trade, but, over the decades, Congress wrote several laws giving the president new power to impose tariffs by declaring an emergency.
Nobody has used that power, this way. Not until now. Now Trump is harnessing that power in unprecedented ways.
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Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
Why Canada's supply management is a sticking point for Trump in trade talks
The target date for a new trade deal between Canada and the United States is a little over a week away, but one issue continues to be a sticking point between both nations: Canada's supply management. Supply management, which Canada uses in the dairy, poultry and egg sectors, has been a frequent target of criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump throughout his threats of tariffs and claims that Canada is 'ripping us off.' Last month, while demanding Canada repeal its digital services tax, Trump said Canada was 'a very difficult Country to TRADE with,' claiming on his social media platform Truth Social that the country charges 'tariffs' of up to 400 per cent on dairy products. Canada uses a quota system that allows a set amount of some foreign dairy products into the country, and high tariffs only apply if countries try to exceed that allowed quota coming into Canada. Story continues below advertisement Canada's supply management system, which dates back to the 1970s, has restricted foreign access to the Canadian dairy market in order to protect domestic producers and set quality standards for products. Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed in the Liberal election platform that he will 'keep Canada's supply management off the table in any negotiations with the U.S.' So how does it work? What is supply management? The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) — which Trump re-negotiated to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) during his first term — narrowly expanded U.S. access to Canada's dairy market, which is protected under supply management rules. The rules, established in the 1970s, set production quotas for Canadian farmers, guarantee minimum prices, and maintain import and quality controls. Story continues below advertisement 'Producers have a licence to produce that's determined by their quota. Producers will only produce as much as the quota says they are allowed to produce or in fact to sell,' said Sven Anders, a resource economist at the University of Alberta. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Under CUSMA, the U.S. gets access to less than five per cent of the market. But the U.S. has launched multiple disputes claiming Canada is intentionally bottlenecking those U.S. imports through tariff rate quotas, which put limits on how many exporters qualify for the cheaper duties. The issue of supply management for farmers might end up being an issue both sides are unwilling to move on. For one, most Canadian politicians are staunchly in support of the policy. 'We saw during the leaders' debate that all of the leaders, specifically in French, said that supply management was a red line in any negotiations with the Trump administration over tariffs,' said Moshe Lander, an economist at Concordia University. 'It seems that they were willing to even accept tariffs and damage to the Canadian economy rather than put dairy and supply management on the table.' The policy is aimed at protecting Canadian dairy farmers from the much larger American dairy industry and keeping prices and supplies stable by controlling the amount of product available. Story continues below advertisement Anders said Canadian politicians are reluctant to alienate dairy farmers. 'They have a lot of political clout. So, if I was a politician in Ontario or Quebec, among my constituents would be many dairy farmers. I certainly would want to fight for them,' he said. That political influence is particularly strong in Quebec, one expert said. 'In 17 ridings provincially in Quebec, people under supply management are strong enough to change the outcome of the election,' said Vincent Geloso, senior economist at the Montreal Economic Institute. 'Having influence over 17 ridings makes you a very powerful interest group.' As Canada's premiers were meeting for a three-day summit in Ontario, Quebec Premier François Legault said supply management was a hard line in the U.S. trade negotiations for him. 'There's no question about negotiating the supply management for dairy and other products,' Legault told reporters. Lander said supporters of Canada's dairy industry see the policy as necessary to protect them from the much larger American dairy industry. 'Wisconsin alone produces more milk than Canada consumes in a year,' he said. He said small Canadian dairy farms would be unable to withstand the pressure of open competition from the U.S. Story continues below advertisement 'These farms would have to merge their way up into these mega farms like you see in Wisconsin or in Minnesota to try and remain competitive. That would push a lot of farmers off their traditional land,' he said. Dairy Farmers of Canada declined Global's request for comment. 1:51 U.S. may be looking to remove non-tariff barriers, report shows However, Trump and the Republicans have their own political calculus in pushing Canada on supply management, he said. 'In the midterm elections, which are next year, maintaining Wisconsin is going to be very important for the Republicans if they want to maintain control of the House (of Representatives). If you vocally support farmers, this is one way to maybe keep that base solidified,' he said. One prominent Canadian voice who is opposed to the present system of supply management is Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who said recently that she was considering 'creating our own Alberta version of supply and management, maybe as a pathway to a market system.' Story continues below advertisement 'We do not get our share of quota, I think we have 12 per cent of the population and we only get seven per cent of the quota,' she told reporters last week. One consequence of supply management is that Canadians end up paying more for dairy products, Anders said. 'There's plenty of research that says or that has documented that an average Canadian household pays several hundred dollars more in food in dairy product cost on an annual basis just because of supply management,' he said. However, the same system has also been credited with helping Canadian consumers avoid the price shocks seen by U.S. consumers over the past year, as egg prices south of the border soared. Trump's criticisms aren't historically abnormal for U.S. presidents, either. 'Biden and Obama both had objections to it and voiced it,' Lander said. 'The more I say I dislike it, and the more you insist you're not going to remove it, then the more that I can say I want my way on these other things. It could be that he (Trump) just sees it as a tactic, where the Democratic presidents who had opposed it in the past merely just saw it as an annoyance.' — with files from Global's Sean Boynton and Touria Izri


Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
Algoma Steel asks Ottawa for $500M over U.S. tariff uncertainty
Algoma Steel says it is seeking $500 million in federal support as the company faces continued uncertainty from U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel. The Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.-based steel producer says it applied for the funding under the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan program, announced by Ottawa in March to support companies affected by tariffs and countermeasures. The company says in a press release it remains concerned with the 'significant impact' that U.S. tariffs are having on its operations and outlook. In June, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order doubling his country's tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 50 per cent. 4:26 Federal gov't response to latest U.S. Tariffs Algoma says it has enough resources on hand to manage its liquidity over the near term, but it is considering various options to achieve support and diversify its customer base, 'given the ongoing uncertainty caused by the U.S. tariffs resulting in a structural imbalance in the Canadian market.' Story continues below advertisement That includes an evaluation of capital investments 'that align with long-term domestic demand in sectors such as defence and construction, while reinforcing Canada's industrial resilience and low-carbon transformation.' It says the amount of additional financing it could seek will partly depend on the duration and severity of the trade dispute 'and the extent to which the Canadian steel market remains exposed to unfairly priced imports.'


Toronto Sun
an hour ago
- Toronto Sun
Man accused of attempting to assassinate Trump returns to court and hopes to represent himself
Published Jul 24, 2025 • 3 minute read In this image released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, law enforcement officers arrest Ryan Wesley Routh, a man suspected in an apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump, Sept. 15, 2024. Photo by Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP, File / AP FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A man charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump last year at his Florida golf course will return to court Thursday to once again explain why he wants to fire his court-appointed lawyers and represent himself. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Ryan Routh previously made the request earlier this month during a hearing in Fort Pierce before U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon. She did not rule during the hearing but said she would issue a written order later. But now Routh, 59, is set to be back in front of Cannon, a day after his court-appointed federal public defenders asked to be taken off the case. Routh is scheduled to stand trial in September, a year after prosecutors say a U.S. Secret Service agent thwarted his attempt to shoot Trump as he played golf. Routh has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and several firearm violations. The judge told Routh earlier this month that she doesn't intend to delay the Sept. 8 start date of his trial, even if she lets him represent himself. Routh, who has described the extent of his education as two years of college after earning his GED certificate, told Cannon that he understood and would be ready. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In a June 29 letter to Cannon, Routh said that he and his attorneys were 'a million miles apart' and that they were refusing to answer his questions. He also suggested in the same letter that he could be used in a prisoner exchange with Iran, China, North Korea or Russia. 'I could die being of some use and save all this court mess, but no one acts; perhaps you have the power to trade me away,' Routh wrote. On Wednesday, the federal public defender's office filed a motion for termination of appointment of counsel, claiming that 'the attorney-client relationship is irreconcilably broken.' Attorneys said Routh refused to meet with them for a scheduled in-person meeting Tuesday morning at the federal detention center in Miami. They said Routh has refused six attempts to meet with their team. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'It is clear that Mr. Routh wishes to represent himself, and he is within his Constitutional rights to make such a demand,' the motion said. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that criminal defendants have a right to represent themselves in court proceedings, as long as they can show a judge they are competent to waive their right to be defended by an attorney. Prosecutors have said Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15 at his West Palm Beach country club. A Secret Service agent spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh allegedly aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot. Law enforcement obtained help from a witness who prosecutors said informed officers that he saw a person fleeing. The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a nearby interstate where Routh was arrested, and the witnesses confirmed it was the person he had seen, prosecutors have said. Routh has another, unrelated hearing in Cannon's courtroom scheduled for Friday on the admissibility of certain evidence and testimony that can be used for the trial. In addition to the federal charges, Routh also has pleaded not guilty to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder. 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