The US will impose a 35pc tariff on all imports from Canada effective on 1 August, President Donald Trump said in a letter to Canadian prime minister Mark Carney.
The 10 July letter that Trump posted on social media late Thursday noted that Canada previously planned retaliatory tariffs in response to the US' first tariff threats in the spring. He repeated his earliest justification for the tariffs - the illegal smuggling of fentanyl into the US from Canada - and said he would consider "an adjustment" to the tariffs if Canada worked with him to stop that flow.
The 35pc tariff would be separate from tariffs set for specific sectors, which include a 50pc tariff on copper imports.
It is not clear if any imports currently covered by the US-Mexico- Canada trade agreement (USMCA) would be affected by the new tariff threats.
The Trump administration since 5 April has been charging a 10pc extra "Liberation Day" tariff on most imports — energy commodities and critical minerals are exceptions — from nearly every foreign trade partner. Trump on 9 April imposed even higher tariffs on key trading partners, only to delay them the same day until 9 July. On 7 July, Trump signed an executive order further delaying the implementation of higher rates until 12:01am ET (04:01 GMT) on 1 August.
Earlier this week he threatened 50pc tariffs against Brazil for its ongoing criminal prosecution of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
