Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Canada had introduced a 25 percent tariff on cars and trucks made in the United States in retaliation for the tariffs that went into effect Thursday morning on Canadian vehicles.
Hours before the tariffs imposed by President Trump took effect, the automaker Stellantis told the union representing about 3,600 workers at its minivan and muscle car factory in Windsor, Ontario, that the plant would close on Monday for two weeks so it could assess the effects of the tariffs.
Mr. Carney estimated that Canada would collect about $5.7 billion from the retaliatory tariffs he said it was imposing — on top of the $42 billion or so he said Canada would generate from the tariffs it imposed on March 4. That money, Mr. Carney said, would go toward helping workers and businesses affected by the U.S. tariffs.
“We take these measures reluctantly,” Mr. Carney told reporters. “And we take them in ways that’s intended and will cause maximum impact in the United States and minimum impact here in Canada.” He added, “We can do better than the United States. Exactly where that comes out depends on how much damage they do to their economy.”
Canada’s tariffs, Mr. Carney said, would exclude auto parts, and the country would still allow companies that make cars in Canada to import vehicles built in the United States without incurring the tariff.
Mr. Trump has also imposed 25 percent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
Autos and auto parts are Canada’s largest export by value aside from oil and gas. Canada is the largest importer of cars and trucks made in the United States, and auto factories in Canada send upward of 90 percent of their production to the United States. Over all, trade in autos between the two countries tends to be balanced, though in some years the United States has a slight surplus.
Few industries in Canada are as entwined as the auto sector is with the United States. The integration began in 1965, when the countries entered into an auto trade agreement.
Because of that, James Stewart, the president of the Unifor union local that represents the Stellantis workers in Windsor, said that the two-week shutdown would likely lead to layoffs at U.S. factories that supply the Canadian assembly line with parts. He estimated that American parts made up at least half the value of the Windsor-built minivans.
The production pause, Mr. Stewart said, is going to cause problems in the United States.
“We’re not a jurisdiction that has taken any jobs from the U.S.,” Mr. Stewart said. “We have lost jobs to low-paying jurisdictions just like they have.”
Mr. Carney, a former central banker of England and Canada, said that tariffs announced by Mr. Trump on Wednesday “will rupture the global economy and adversely affect global economic growth.”
Mr. Carney said he would try to assemble a “coalition of like-minded countries” looking for an alternative to the United States.
“If the United States no longer wants to lead, Canada will,” he said.
Mr. Carney later added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. While this is a tragedy, it is also the new reality.”
