Cabinet to meet Tuesday as Trump says 35% tariff letter is ‘the deal'
The president sent Carney a letter late last week saying Canada will face a 35 per cent tariff rate after Aug. 1, while other letters Trump shared over the weekend only talk about a 30 per cent tariff with Mexico and the European Union.
Last week, Carney said the government has 'steadfastly' defended Canadian workers and businesses at the negotiating table in a social media statement.
Fen Hampson, an international affairs professor at Carleton University, says that Carney should keep his head down and focus on talks with American officials instead of Trump.
Hampson says Trump can be unpredictable, but he and officials are likely to respond to domestic pressures brought on by high tariffs rates.
White House officials have said that the 35 per cent tariff rate would apply to areas that aren't compliant with the Canada-United States-Mexico agreement, which are already tariffed at 25 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
In the news today: 10 candidates in Alberta byelection to debate
Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed... 10 candidates in Alberta byelection to debate Ten candidates vying to represent Battle River-Crowfoot in the House of Commons are to debate tonight in the riding's largest municipality. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's press secretary Sarah Fischer says he will be attending the event hosted by the Camrose & District Chamber of Commerce ahead of the Aug. 18 byelection. Poilievre is looking to win in the sprawling eastern Alberta riding after he lost his long-held Ottawa seat of Carleton in the April general election. The writ was dropped last month after Conservative Damien Kurek, who handily won the seat in the April vote, stepped down so Poilievre could run. About 210 candidates were registered to run as of Monday on Elections Canada's website, including Liberal candidate Darcy Spady, the NDP's Katherine Swampy, Independent Bonnie Critchley and dozens of others sponsored by the Longest Ballot Committee protest group. Here's what else we're watching... Businesses hoping for carveouts in potential deal Business leaders and academics say they hope to see Canada and the U.S. maintain free-trade protections for most goods once an agreement is reached, even if the negotiations can't stave off certain sectoral tariffs. It's unclear if the two countries will stick to the Aug. 1 deadline for wrapping up talks. Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday negotiations were in an "intense phase" but U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters last week that Canada wasn't a priority for his administration. Whether a deal is announced Friday or later, Canadian Federation of Independent Business president Dan Kelly says his organization's members feel "a good chunk" of trade must remain tariff-free in order for talks to be considered successful. He says it wouldn't be a win for Canada if the trade agreement ends up looking similar to the deal struck by the U.S. with the European Union on Sunday. That framework imposes a 15-per-cent tariff on most goods imported into the U.S., including European automobiles, and there are no carveouts for key products like pharmaceuticals and steel. Motion on B.C. injection site closure deferred City council in Nanaimo, B.C., has voted to defer a motion on asking the local health authority to close an overdose prevention site next to city hall. The vote to defer Coun. Ian Thorpe's motion passed with a 6-3 vote in favour of deferral during a special meeting of council on Monday night. Had the motion not been deferred and instead passed a council vote, it would have resulted in the city formally requesting that Island Health close the site on Albert Street. The motion came after a similar request this month by Victoria Coun. Marg Gardiner related to a safe consumption site that she says is plagued by crime, although councillors in that city delayed the motion until later this year. B.C.'s Health Ministry says while overdose prevention services are vital programs, they are expected to take action to mitigate "street disorder within the immediate vicinity of sites during operating hours." Ex-MLA Chen draws deep for tale of gender violence Former British Columbia legislator Katrina Chen sits on a couch in her Burnaby home, reading aloud from the children's book she's co-written. The mother and son in the story, "A Stronger Home," co-written with Elaine Su, turn their backs on a scene of domestic turmoil: a broken vase, furniture overturned, sofa cushions in disarray. "I wrote this book as a survivor of gender-based violence with personal experiences about how violence has touched and impacted my whole life," said Chen, B.C.'s former minister of state for child care. Chen, who also has a young son, sees the problem as an urgent one, pointing to a recent spate of alleged intimate partner violence in B.C. This month alone, there has been the killing of an 80-year-old Abbotsford woman and the death of her husband in what police consider a murder-suicide; the killing in a Richmond apartment of a 51-year-old woman whose partner has been charged with second-degree murder; and the death of Bailey McCourt, allegedly beaten to death in a Kelowna parking lot by her estranged husband, James Plover, also charged with second-degree murder. Chen said it was "totally heartbreaking and unacceptable" to hear of such tragedies, and society needed to see the violence as an emergency. She and other advocates want changes to the legal and social justice systems to prevent it from continuing. Artists reflect on colourful Toronto moose project As people around the world welcomed a new millennium, Torontonians in the year 2000 were welcoming something even bigger – a herd of hundreds of life-size moose statues. Twenty-five years ago, Toronto launched its Moose in the City campaign, a project featuring 326 colourful moose statues decorated by artists and placed all over the city in an effort to usher in the new year with a boost for local tourism and art sectors. The project came at no cost to the city, according to council minutes from April 2000, and the statues were sponsored by various companies. The public could stumble upon the hoofed, herbivore masterpieces at locations including the CN Tower, Pearson Airport and city hall. Some of the artists involved say the project was emblematic of the city's culture and shows how municipalities can step up to support the art scene — even as some of the famed sculpted creatures have disappeared in the years since. Moose in the City was a "great collaboration with the city" for artists, said Kelly Borgers, who was commissioned to do three of the statues. There was even a launch party for the project, with music and a sculpture parade. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2025. The Canadian Press
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Free trade carveouts key in potential deal between U.S. and Canada: business groups
Business leaders and academics say they hope to see Canada and the U.S. maintain free trade protections for most goods once an agreement is reached, even if the negotiations can't stave off certain sectoral tariffs. It's unclear if the two countries will stick to the Aug. 1 deadline for wrapping up talks, as Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday negotiations were in an "intense phase" but U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters last week that Canada wasn't a priority for his administration. Whether a deal is announced Friday or later, Canadian Federation of Independent Business president Dan Kelly says his organization's members feel "a good chunk" of trade must remain tariff-free in order for talks to be considered successful. He says it wouldn't be a win for Canada if the trade agreement ends up looking similar to the deal struck by the U.S. with the European Union on Sunday. That framework imposes a 15 per cent tariff on most goods imported into the U.S., including European automobiles, and no carveouts for key products like pharmaceuticals and steel. Kelly says Canadian business leaders will also be watching to find out what levies will remain on imports from the U.S., noting Canada's ongoing retaliatory tariffs "are really crippling small businesses even more than the U.S. tariffs." This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2025. Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's DOJ puts companies on notice: Don't evade tariffs
The Justice Department is putting American companies on notice that they could be prosecuted if they chose to evade President Trump's tariffs, even as the legality of the president's "Liberation Day" duties remain unsettled in US courts. The message came in a DOJ announcement earlier this month stipulating that prosecutors would step up investigations into suspiciously classified imports and charge those who misidentify products with fraud. 'While the DOJ has always taken some customs cases, this is a different, more aggressive, visible stance than they usually would,' said Thompson Coburn trade lawyer Robert Shapiro. Read more: 5 ways to tariff-proof your finances The plan — to be carried out by the DOJ's new Market, Government, and Consumer Fraud Unit — marks a shift in enforcement tactics from prior administrations that relied mostly on policing misconduct through administrative proceedings, even during Trump's first term in office. The new Trump administration instead wants to prioritize criminal charges against companies and individuals that try to evade US tariffs. The overarching strategy was first outlined by Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, who wrote in a May memo that an increasing focus on white collar crime would include "trade and customs fraudsters, including those who commit tariff evasion." At the same time, the Trump administration finds itself in the unusual position of defending the legality of the duties it pledges to enforce. Oral arguments in a federal lawsuit challenging the president's tariffs are set to take place before the US Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., this Thursday. The small business importers challenging the legal standing of the duties already proved it was possible to temporarily derail Trump's global tariffs with a lower court victory in May. In a separate challenge, two toy manufacturers are scheduled to make their own arguments against Trump's tariffs before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Sept. 30, following their own lower court victory. 'We're going to raise the ante' Tariff violations can be prosecuted under civil or criminal laws. However, even fraud cases were often handled administratively by past administrations, according to Shapiro. 'I think the administration is just saying we're going to raise the ante on this,' Shapiro said. University of Kansas School of Law professor Raj Bhala said laws against customs fraud have long been in force, but the appetite for the DOJ and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to clamp down on violations has increased. Historically, Bhala and other trade lawyers said, prosecutors focused government resources on suspected tariff violations by US adversaries such as China, Iran, and North Korea, and particularly on export controls meant to keep controlled items from shipping to those countries. Producer-exporters, especially in China and other high-tariff regions, have been using evasion techniques for decades, mostly to skirt anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders, Bhala said. But now, under more imposing tariffs, incentives to evade duties have spiked 'enormously.' 'What is clear is that a lot of companies are looking for a way to limit the impact of the duties,' Shapiro said. In this new tariff and enforcement environment, trade experts suspect that corporate America and its trading partners are on high alert. Erika Trujillo, a trade attorney with customs risk management firm SEIA Compliance Technologies, said the shift toward more enforcement happening at the DOJ and less through administrative procedures could increase politically motivated targeting of companies viewed as adverse to the Trump administration's interests. 'I do think trade restrictions were used as both a sword and a shield for foreign companies, or in terms of dealing with international trade,' Trujillo said. Common tariff evasion techniques include misclassifying goods, falsely labeling a product's country of origin, making minor modifications to a product while it's in a lower-tariff jurisdiction to pass it off as manufactured there, and transhipping goods through lower-tariff jurisdictions. Read more: The latest news and updates on Trump's tariffs 'It's hard to imagine that any well-run company that has supply chains stretching across the globe — particularly in higher-tariff jurisdictions like China or Cambodia — would not be having vigorous discussions to ensure every step in the supply chain is properly documented and audited,' Bhala said. Bhala cautions that the stakes are high for importers subject to US jurisdiction. 'They're the importer of record and they're the ones who are liable for the tariffs,' he said. 'And false declarations are what we call 'go to jail stuff.'' For fraud, fines can also be assessed, up to the domestic value of the merchandise. For civil violations made based on negligent actions, maximum penalties are two times the underpayment of duties, in addition to original duties. For violations based on gross negligence, penalties increase to four times the underpayment of duties. For businesses looking to assess their risk, US Customs maintains an electronic system called the Automated Commercial Environment (ACT) that allows importers to view what their classification data looks like to customs. Small and midsize companies may find it more difficult to evaluate their compliance risks compared to multinational firms. 'If you're an SME, you probably have one or two lawyers, and they're not necessarily trade specialists,' Bhala said. Plus, there are different rules for thousands of products. For example, a typical NAFTA good, he explained, traverses the US-Canada border roughly four times. 'It's really difficult for companies of that size to be dealing with this,' Trujillo said. One major challenge is finding affordable internal expertise. 'Almost every company I know is actively hiring for both customs and export controls, and sanctions. You're basically stuck going to law firms or other external consultancy, and the small and medium-sized firms are maybe not going to have the budget to pay $1,100 an hour.' Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet For certain suspected violations like those made by mistake, Shapiro said it doesn't make economic sense for the DOJ to get involved. 'They don't have the manpower for it,' he said. But a new enforcement policy seems to fit the Trump administration's broader tariff agenda, he added. 'If you're going to have this tariff policy, you're going to have to take a more aggressive stance, because it's a huge ocean of imports, and it's very hard for customs to enforce against everyone.' Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on X @alexiskweed. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices
