The Current - What Canada's dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs look like

Episode Date: August 25, 2026

Canada’s plans to respond to the new 50 per cent U.S. tariffs are out. Today, federal ministers announced dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs on $27.6 billion worth of U.S. goods. They also announced plans to support businesses and workers with an additional $7.5 billion as this trade war continues. We speak with CBC’s Catherine Cullen, former Conservative cabinet minister Lisa Raitt, and small business owner Ben Eadie about what this deal includes, and whether it’s enough to help workers and businesses in Canada.

Between tariffs, trade battles and an ongoing war in the Middle East, the lazy days of summer seem to have skipped Washington this year. So our podcast, Two Blocks from the White House, is here to keep you caught up, even if you're in vacation mode. Join me, Katie Simpson with correspondence Paul Hunter and Willie Lowry and other journalists from our D.C. Bureau for a front row seat and what this all means for Canadians. Find and follow two blocks from the White House with new episodes every Wednesday in your favorite podcast app, including YouTube.

This is a CBC podcast. I'm Susan Ormiston, and this is the current podcast. This is a non-precedented challenge imposed on Canada. But Canada will meet the moment. Canadians will meet the moment. We will meet the moment together. And as the Prime Minister has said, we will support our workers, our businesses and our industry, with whatever it takes,

for as long as it takes. Canada's finance minister and other federal ministers are announcing just this hour Canada's plan for how the federal government will support businesses and workers as this trade war continues. And laying down counter tariffs against the United States in retaliation for this weekend's escalations. Catherine Cullen, host of CBC Radio's The House,

is here to walk us through what we know. Catherine, good morning. Good morning, Susan. Well, it's been busy. Let's start with what was said in this. hour. How is Canada pushing back against the U.S. with counter tariffs? What is the government's approach, Catherine? Well, this is not necessarily the moment for subtlety, is it, Susan. And the first thing the finance minister said when he walked up to the microphone is the message today is that

we are going to stand up for Canada. That is what the liberals are trying to put in the window. We have to acknowledge this is a tricky moment because the basic premise of this trade war, certainly from the Canadian perspective, is tariffs are bad. They hurt consumers, businesses, and the economy. So how to go about counter tariffs, which are, of course, tariffs themselves. Officials say that this plan, and it targets a long list, 99 pages of things, everything from steel and aluminum to seafood, appliances, toilet paper is on the list, carpets, that it's about creating parity with the tariffs imposed by the American. So the idea is, if Canadian steel is tariffed at 50 percent, well, Canada is going to tariff U.S. steel at that level two.

The plan is to level the playing field officials say the total amount of goods targeted here, $27.6 billion by Canadian counterteriffs. You want to pay attention to that number because that is the amount of goods being targeted by those U.S. tariffs, the 50% ones in the first place. And these counter tariffs from Canada anticipated to go into effect in two weeks time. And the counter tariffs are targeting 700 plus items, so similar to the scope and bread. of the tariffs that were imposed on this country. And as we've heard, you know, it's often local businesses and local citizens who bear the brunt of the impact when tariffs are imposed in their own country. So their products, our products in Canada, get more expensive.

So how will these counter tariffs affect businesses here in Canada? Well, again, this is where there's a bit of a push pull. The ministers who are speaking right now, the government officials who briefed journalists earlier have said this is about protecting Canadian business. So if the Canadian, you know, if you are involved in producing some kind of product in Canada and that product is costing more for Canadians to sell into the U.S., well, they're trying to level out the playing field here and protect business. But you're right, Susan, there's no way that this doesn't have a knock-on effect, a negative impact for Canadian businesses. And so I think the precision here is supposed to be part of the message. I was really struck by, we've heard such heated language in the last 24 and 48 hours.

And when you look at the news release from the government about this moment, they interestingly call it a trade conflict. People can rewind their minds to Saturday when the prime minister himself was asked, why does it feel like Mark Carney is going to war? And he said, it's a war if you're attacked. We're being attacked. This is a trade war. We're going to manage. But you see there's an attempt to sort of bring down the tone. They talk about suspended negotiations rather than ended negotiations. So I think there is an effort here to create some reassurance for Canadians and a sense of a sense of. balance whether or not that is achieved in the precise level of economic pain. I mean, those are big questions that hang over all of this. So softening the language. Interesting point, Catherine. I hadn't picked up on that. Conservative leader, Pierre Pollyev, was out this morning,

of course, with a message for the Prime Minister about all this. Have a listen. We asked the Prime Minister today to reveal the cost to individual families of his proposed counter tariffs. He said the other day that tariffs are taxes. That is a quote. So what will the retaliatory tariffs mean for grocery bills, gas prices, and the cost of everyday goods? How much more will families have to pay? And where will the tariff revenues go? All good points, actually. Where will they go? But most importantly, you said that the federal ministers today are saying, you know, we're trying to mitigate the effect of these counterteriffs on Canadian businesses, but how? Indeed. And so, I mean, the ministers are still making the

announcement right now. Susan, I was struck. though when Melanie Jolie, the industry minister was speaking, we haven't gotten into the sort of hairy details of how this is going to affect individual Canadians, what they might say to the idea that this is going to drive up prices. But you see her, and we've heard this from many premiers too, really leaning into this idea that the choices you now make at the grocery store, the choices you make with your money are very significant. That, you know, essentially Canadians can help bolster the Canadian economy by being very purposeful about choosing Canadian products. And there, you know, I don't want to exaggerate the parallels to an actual war,

but there is a sense of like rally around the flag, things that we can do for ourselves, how we, how we can both make sacrifices and come together in order to try to bolster this country. Again, we're talking about livelihoods rather than actual lives being at stake in wars of the past. But there's a push to sort of press on this patriotism button. But again, underlying all this, the potential economic pain that people are feeling both in their own bills and the possibility that people, well, the likelihood, frankly, the reality that people are going to lose their jobs, particularly because of these U.S. tariffs. Yeah, I also picked up on that with Melanie Jolie.

Buy Canadian, by Canadian. She was pretty firm and, you know, wide ranging on that. But the other big piece of today's announcement, and there was lots in there, of course, is support for Canadian businesses and workers. So what kind of help is the government promising? This is quite multifaceted, $7.5 billion in addition to existing programs. And so they're shifting and tweaking a lot of what's already available. Part of the reason for that is because this moment is likely to affect more small and medium-sized businesses.

A lot of those sectoral tariffs, you know, you're talking about things like aluminum smelters. Those are not sort of businesses that are the corner shop. But we've been hearing it both on the current and elsewhere. where now it is some mom and pop individual businesses that are going to be feeling this. So the government insists it is going to do more to help out small and medium-sized businesses, things like liquidity supports, basically more money to keep them going. I thought it was striking when they talked about loans that would be available to some businesses. They said you won't have to repay anything until 36 months after the Trump administration.

So there really is a level of explicitness both about what this is about, but also I would say about the duration of the fight that we are in for. here. I mean, I'm sure the government would be glad to curtail those programs if indeed we could find some trade peace with the Americans, but a suggestion that we may be in this for the long haul. They're lowering the bar on how much revenue a business has to make to be eligible for some of these programs. Now, it can be as little as a million dollars. I appreciate a million dollars is still a lot of money, but it will allow other businesses to apply. They're trying to make the system more streamlined. And they're going to make programs easier to access. Notably,

they're extending employment insurance benefits in a number of ways. So trying to make it easier for workers who, for instance, now might have walked away from a job. If you left your job voluntarily, you will have access to EI in a way that you might not have previously. Catherine, the finance minister said the government was promising to be rapid, simple, and agile in their response. It'll be businesses who will tell us in the coming days whether, in fact, those are words or they really will help them.

And it's so crucial, right, Susan? I mean, really, if you are a business of five or six people, you do not have necessarily the capacity to fill out complex paperwork and you may need this money right away. So that is a very nice top level line from the finance minister. I think it's something that most businesses would say they want. But we often use that phrase, the devils in the details. I think this is an instance where the specifics of how streamlined and seamless this is are going to matter enormously.

Catherine, just in our minute left, I have to ask you about all the tit-for-tat language this morning even. President Trump now saying that he's thinking about changing Lake Ontario to Lake America and calling Canada. of the most difficult and unreasonable country and calling this country, Canada, entitled. Did any reaction from all these federal ministers lining up in this hour on that front? They are just entering into the question and answer portion, but I will say a couple things about that. We heard from Dominic LeBlanc last night on power and politics, and he was just saying, we are not going to engage on some of this.

He was being asked about the language about Ontario Premier Doug Ford's posterior. I think everybody has clocked that right now, the size of his backside. that consistently saying they will not engage on all of this, but the one thing I would say about it, Susan, it's only a week ago that Donald Trump put up that true social post deal exclamation mark, right? He said there was some finalization to do. But where it seemed like the two sides were coming together, ultimately that we might be deepening this economic relationship with the United States and the speed at which this relationship has nosedived in the past couple of days just in terms of the rhetoric. It's really striking. We are not in a particularly good place right now. It will be interesting to see to what extent the federal government tries to calm the jean, to calm things down, to take the temperature down a bit. Well, I wonder if that message has gotten to the Ontario Premier because, of course, he was silent for a few days and then he's been quite vocal ever since. He's been out speaking to U.S. media today and I think he has taken things down a notch,

Susan, although it was a lot of notches up, so it's one notch enough, we shall see. All right. Well, thank you so much for distilling a very important announcement this morning, and you're right. Lightning speed since these talks broke down at midnight on Friday night. Thanks, Catherine. Thanks for having me on, Susan. Catherine Cullen is the host of CBC Radio's The House. Something is happening in Dawson Creek. A wave of violence has swept over this community of just 13,000 people. 15 murders in the last five years. I'm Timothy Sawa, and from CBC's on cover and the fifth estate, An investigation into deaths and disappearances in Dawson Creek and what's behind it all. The Mile Zero Murders, available now on CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts. Lisa Raid is a former conservative cabinet minister and current member of the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations, Lisa, good morning.

Good morning, Susan. All right. I'm sure you've been watching this closely, of course. what is the federal government's response? And do you think that it's going to meet the moment for Canadian businesses both small and large? Well, I can say that there's a lot of anticipation for the response today. You may know that I work in the banking industry now. And ever since it was announced that we didn't have a deal at 11.30 p.m. on Friday night, the clients have been calling in concerned about how this is going to impact that.

especially in the areas that the Section 33A tariffs are going to attach. So anticipation for today. So first I'm going to say very good for the government to get this out relatively quickly. And hopefully these programs are ones that are up and running that we don't have to have a lot of lay time for people to figure out how they're going to work. And that it's going to be purpose built for what needs to happen. The part about the retaliation, you know, it's a very lengthy document. as Catherine pointed out, it's narrowing in on the fields that we have had the 338s put on. So from a tariff for tariff kind of retaliation, it seems to make sense.

But like anything else, and you've said it already this morning, the devil is in the details. And what I've been finding is that over the last year, even with the Section 232 tariffs and the programs around it, there's so many unanticipated consequences and so many places in which the applicability of somebody getting some relief isn't there, that the government, you know, they're going to have to pay attention to what's going on. And I believe that that's what the minister said, that they're going to pay attention to how these things are going to roll out. And again, I appreciate the fact that they're going to do that.

But all to say, there are going to be higher prices on a number of goods that Canadians are used to purchasing without a tariff on them and buying your Canadian counterpart is going to be something that you're going to have to look for on the store shelves. So do you think that escalation counter tariffs at this level, you know, raising tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50%, for example, a big one? Do you think this is the right move? So, you know, it's interesting. I've been reading a lot on social media. Economists are actually divided on this. Some economists say it doesn't help with the, with Canadians going to be paying that price.

But on the other side, I fully understand that sometimes you've got to get the attention of the other side that you're competing against or you're combating against, essentially. So, yeah, I mean, from a political point of view, do I think that Stephen Harper would have done the same thing? For sure. I think we would have looked at the same kind of retaliatory tariffs. The question is, you know, how precise have you been and have you taken into consideration all of the circumstances or the unintended consequences?

that you can have from these things and can be nimble and flexible in fixing the things that need to be fixed. Lisa, one more thing, you know, we heard from the Minister of Finance about, you know, timeframes on this. It feels almost COVID-like, you know, when this happens, this will all be over.

But it does raise the question of these responses, this help for Canadian businesses, is urgent right now, but could it last for a long, long time? We don't know if the trade war will end. That's what worries me the most out of all of this. I didn't like the rhetoric that was blowing up in the last couple of days because hurt feelings actually do come into consideration when you're trying to get back to the table to negotiate a deal. And I think a deal and a clear trading relationship with the United States is in the best interests of Canada and its citizens.

I firmly believe that. And it's going to take a lot to convince me that that's not the case if you ever could. So I do, I am concerned about this exceeding the timeframes that I'd hoped. I had hoped when I saw September 8th as the date on which these tariffs would come into place, that that was a signal we're trying to get back to the table. I mean, that's been shut down by the government. And then Mr. Trump says, well, January 1st, that's my deadline. But I don't know.

I think nobody knows, quite frankly, it's going to take a conversation between Mr. Trump and Mr. Carney, I think to get these things back on track and at the table, which would be better for all of our countries. And just in the last minute I have with you, the big concern here for business, of course, is still uncertainty. How much is all this going to put a chill on investment? Oh, definitely. I mean, most definitely.

And I was reminded this morning in a client discussion that it's not only the impact on the people who are going to be experiencing the Section 338 tariffs directly, there are, you know, shoulder industries that are going to feel the impact. Look at automotive, for example, the car dealerships, the people who supply the car dealerships, they're all going to be impacted because people aren't going to be necessarily buying cars because they're going to be more expensive.

So there are ramifications beyond the actual tariff labels and the tariff codes that are being applied that grind on the economy. So, yeah, it's a great concern, great concern. All right. Lisa, thanks so much. I appreciate it. Lisa Raid is a former conservative cabinet minister and current member of the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations. Well, many small businesses will be intently listening to all this this morning. They're feeling the direct impact of the new

U.S. tariffs. And Ben Eadie is one of them. He's the owner of VF. Coms, a maker of radio communication antennas. His products, among those, hit with the new 50% U.S. tariffs. He's in Calgary. Good morning, Ben. Good morning. How are you? I'm good. What's your response to what you've heard from the government this morning about help is on its way? So this is the first time since the 15th when I had the stop sales to the U.S. where I actually feel like there's something I can do. You know, I've been sitting on the sidelines kind of watching this and I like to have action and unfortunately I haven't had that until now.

So, you know, I feel somewhat better but cautiously optimistic. Is there a way in for you to access some of these supports? I'm hoping so. I believe Lisa had pointed out things like the devil's in the details and the qualifications for some of the relief. There was like the Prairie Tariff Relief Fund that was before this. They had things like you had to be an incorporated business for two years and an employee. So a couple of things coming to account here is that not all small businesses.

In fact, a lot of them are not incorporated. There's a lot of sole proprietorships. Right. Then, you know, if you're pulling, a dividend versus being an employee, you know, those things disqualify you from any of the help. So, you know, it's one of those where I need to see the fine details to really, you know, answer that. And Ben, remind us what has been the impact so far as of these tariffs from the U.S. going into place on Saturday?

So a lot of people don't realize that I had to stop sales to the U.S. on the 15th, not the 19th, because it takes time to get things across the border. So since, you know, 10 days ago, I have not been selling anything. I literally have had a flat line of sales. So, you know, normally in this period of time, I'd be making between, say, $5,000 and $15,000, and I've lost all that. Gosh. And just briefly, do you, in the light of all this and your business being whacked,

do you support having counter tariffs on the United States announced by the government today? I absolutely do. The thing is, this is more than just tariffs. Again, when it comes into sovereignry, it's not cool. It's not something that I take lately. Well, here's hoping that there is something in these packages announced today for you and businesses like you. And thanks so much for sharing with us the effect on you and your feelings going forward. Yes, of course. Ben Eadie is the owner of VF Coms, a maker of radio communication antennas in Calgary. You've been listening to the current podcast. I'm Susan Ormiston.

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