U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer speaks to members of the press outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington on April 2, 2026. Alex Wong/Getty Images
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says Canada will need to end its retaliatory measures to avoid additional tariffs, as trade negotiations between Ottawa and Washington continue.
U.S. President Donald Trump issued three proclamations on July 20 imposing 50 percent tariffs on certain Canadian goods beginning Aug. 19. The new tariffs would apply to certain Canadian alcohol, dairy products, cement, and other goods, including hockey sticks, and would affect about five percent of Canada’s exports to the United States.
Washington said the new measures are a response to “discriminatory” Canadian trade practices against U.S. exports, especially American automobiles, alcohol, and dairy products.
“These tariffs that are coming in, they are a response to Canadian retaliatory measures, like the kind of things that China would do,” Greer told reporters in Des Moines, Iowa, on Aug. 14.
“And so those are things that would have to be resolved.”
When announcing the new 50 percent tariffs on July 20, the White House said that the only two countries that had chosen to retaliate against Trump’s initial tariffs were China and Canada. The United States has imposed several rounds of tariffs on Canada, such as sectoral tariffs on steel, aluminum, and copper, vehicles and auto parts, and upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets, and vanities.
Greer said that while Ottawa opposes some elements of U.S. trade policy, Washington has been engaged in “constructive negotiations with the Canadians.” He said Trump is seeking a trade deal that serves American interests and that “if there’s a way to bring Canada along with that, we’re happy to do that.”
Greer’s comments come as Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Canada’s chief trade negotiator Janice Charette have been in Washington to discuss trade between the two countries.
LeBlanc said in an
Aug. 13 statementthat he and Charette had met with Greer that day, which was their fourth meeting within the last three weeks. “Negotiations are ongoing, and we continue to advance Canada’s interests,” he said, but did not provide any further details.
Ottawainitially responded to border security-related U.S. tariffs imposed in early 2025 with a series of counter-tariffs of its own. While Canada lifted most of those measures in September 2025, it retained counter-tariffs on certain U.S. goods in response to Washington’s sectoral tariffs on automobiles, steel, and aluminum, arguing that the measures violated the terms of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canada “will do whatever it takes to defend and support our families, our workers, and our businesses,” in response to the new 50 percent U.S. tariffs,
suggesting thatthis could include additional counter-tariffs.
Carney
has alsosaid his government is “loyal” to the supply management system for dairy products, which Washington has long criticized as a trade barrier that is unfair to U.S. farmers.
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