Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday evening vowed to “fight” the new round of tariffs announced by President Donald Trump, and said he would turn to other international partners to get through the rocky times ahead. 

“President Trump has just announced a series of measures that are going to fundamentally change the international trading system,” Carney told reporters following Trump’s Rose Garden announcement. “We’re in a situation where there’s going to be an impact on the U.S. economy, which will build with time.

“In our judgment, it will be negative on the U.S. economy that will have an impact on us,” he added, noting millions of Canadians will be impacted.

WHICH COUNTRIES IMPOSE THE HIGHEST TARIFFS ON THE US?

While Trump did not issue any additional tariffs against Canada following the 25% tariffs already in place on all Canadian imports, the 10% tariff on its energy exports and the blanket tariff on all aluminum and steel, he did announce a 25% tariff on all foreign vehicle imports. 

He also pointed out that Trump said there could be future targeted tariffs against pharmaceutical companies, lumber and semiconductors — tariffs that will have wide affect on U.S. trading partners beyond Canada and Mexico, but across Europe and Asia.

“In a crisis, it’s important to come together,” Carney said. “It’s essential to act with purpose and with force, and that’s what we will do.”

Before the tariff announcement, Canadian Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said at an election campaign event on Wednesday that he supports “targeted, reciprocal” tariffs on American goods — and if his party wins the general election on April 28 and he becomes prime minister, he would like to sit down with President Donald Trump and create a new trade deal, replacing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which the president signed in 2020.
 

Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, speaks at the Assembly of First Nations Annual General Assembly in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on Thursday, July 11, 2024.  (Graham Hughes/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Poilievre also said that Canada must maintain control of its border and freshwater and protect both its automotive industry and supply-managed farm sectors.

David Adams, president and CEO of Global Automakers of Canada — a national trade association representing the Canadian interests of 16 automakers, including BMW Canada, Inc. and Nissan Canada Inc. — said in a statement, “Tariffs are taxes that hurt consumers by increasing costs, driving up inflation, and unfairly impacting workers on both sides of the border.”

“Governments should look to long-term solutions to remove these tariffs, prioritizing the elimination of regulatory barriers to industry competitiveness and providing automakers with flexibilities to respond in these uncertain times.”

Reactions from European Union leaders began to emerge following Trump’s announcement that he will hit the EU with 20% tariffs on all imported goods, with disappointment, concern and commitments to continue negotiations with the U.S.

US President Donald Trump holds a chart as he delivers remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled “Make America Wealthy Again” at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2025. (Getty Images)

CANADA STARES DOWN CONSEQUENCES OF TRUMP TARIFF WAR: JOB LOSSES, GROCERY PRICE HIKES, POSSIBLE RECESSION

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, generally seen as a Trump ally, said Trump’s tariffs were “wrong” and warned they would not only harm American and European pocketbooks, but aid Western adversaries.

“We will do everything we can to work towards an agreement with the United States, with the goal of avoiding a trade war that would inevitably weaken the West in favor of other global players,” Meloni said in a statement on Facebook.

“In any case, as always, we will act in the interest of Italy and its economy, also engaging with other European partners,” she added.

Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister, Simon Harris, said he “deeply regret[s]” the new tariffs but said he is committed to working with Washington to end this tariff war. 

“I must be honest tonight that a 20% blanket tariff on goods from all EU countries could have a significant effect on Irish investment and the wider economy,” he said, noting the effects would “likely be felt for some time.”

Chairman of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee Bernd Lange called for a united response from countries targeted by Trump.

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listens.  (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

“While President Trump might call today ‘Liberation Day,’ from an ordinary citizen’s point of view this is ‘Inflation Day,’ he said, reported Reuters. “Because of this decision, U.S. consumers will be forced to carry the heaviest burden in a trade war.”

Lange said the EU will respond through “legal, legitimate, proportionate and decisive” measures.

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter said her government would work to figure out the next steps.  

The U.K., along with the president of Mexico ahead of the announcement, said they would continue to work with the U.S. and would not rush to enforce reciprocal tariffs.

Similarly, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that while Trump’s decision was “not the act of a friend,” his country would not impose reciprocal tariffs, reported Reuters. 

He reportedly condemned the U.S. tariffs as totally unwarranted and said Australia will continue to negotiate to have the tariffs lifted. 

United States President Donald Trump has unveiled his long-anticipated “reciprocal tariffs”, in a move that is expected to rattle global trade relations.

On Wednesday, Trump appeared in the White House Rose Garden, where the colonnades had been draped with large US flags, to sign the executive orders authorising the tariffs.

He framed the tax hikes as a blow against unfair trade practices, painting a portrait of the US as a country exploited by even its closest allies.

“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump told an audience of manufacturing workers, cabinet members and journalists.

“ Foreign leaders have stolen our jobs. Foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories. And foreign scavengers have torn apart our once-beautiful American dream.”

But he proclaimed that Wednesday would mark a turning point in US history, marking an end to the “vicious attacks” he said the country had weathered.

“ April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed,” Trump said.

Invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, Trump announced a 10-percent tariff on all countries, scheduled to take effect on April 5.

Then, he revealed there would be “individualised” tariffs for countries that have the largest trade deficits with the US. Those tariffs would come into effect four days later, on April 9.

Trump explained that his team calculated the “individualised” tariffs by taking half of what he claimed those countries had charged the US for its exports.

“ We will charge them approximately half of what they are — and have — been charging us. So the tariffs will be not a full reciprocal,” Trump said. “I could have done that, I guess, but it would’ve been tough for a lot of countries. We didn’t want to do that.”

He then beckoned Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to the Rose Garden podium with a chart that illustrated some of the upcoming tariffs.

The graph showed the European Union was headed for 20-percent tariffs. China, meanwhile, had been assigned 34 percent. Vietnam would receive 46 percent, and Thailand 36 percent.

Noticeably absent were Mexico and Canada, the US’s two largest trading partners and its immediate neighbours.

Those countries, the White House explained, would remain under punitive tariffs, designed to bring them in line with Trump’s policies on border security.

All goods not covered under the US-Mexico-Canada free-trade agreement would face a 25-percent tariff, with the exception of energy products. They face 10-percent tariffs instead.

Wednesday’s announcement, while widely expected, still sent shockwaves across the globe.

“Long story short, this is a historic moment,” said Dan Ciuriak, the director of the Canada-based Ciuriak Consulting firm, giving a nod to the isolationist policies of the Trump administration.

“I think it will reshape the world. I think we are seeing the possibility of the emergence of something like a ‘Fortress North America’.”

He noted that poorer countries in places like Southeast Asia appear to be among the hardest hit by the impending tariffs.

“ The developing countries have been hit by very, very high tariffs. And that will have geopolitical ramifications,” Ciuriak said.

“These countries are the poorest in the world, and the notion that they have been getting rich on the back of American workers is not very tenable. I don’t think that this is going to play well in the rest of the world. So we will see, I think, tectonic shifts in international relations as a result of that.”

Within minutes of Trump’s announcement, the international backlash started to erupt, with world leaders denouncing the sweeping tariffs as unjustified.

“The unilateral action that the Trump administration has taken today against every nation in the world does not come as a surprise,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a news conference. “But let me be clear: They are totally unwarranted.”

Australia faces 10-percent tariffs from the Trump administration. Like many leaders, Albanese pledged to protect his country’s workers from the repercussions of those taxes.

“The administration’s tariffs have no basis in logic, and they go against the basis of our two nations’ partnership. This is not the act of a friend,” he added.

Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheal Martin, meanwhile, offered a broad message warning of the damage to both global trade relations and to the US’s own consumers.

“I strongly believe that tariffs benefit no one. They’re bad for the world economy. They hurt people. They hurt businesses,” he said. “So I regret deeply the decision of the US administration this evening to levy a tariff of 20 percent on all goods imported from the European Union.”

Even Canada, which was exempt from the so-called reciprocal tariffs, chimed in with its outrage over the US’s broader policy of lashing out at longtime trading partners.

“During this crisis, we must act with purpose and force,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote on social media. “My government will fight U.S. tariffs, protect Canadian workers and industries, and build the strongest economy in the G7.”

Canada is among the countries that have pledged to respond to the Trump administration’s tariffs with retaliatory measures. Other countries, including Mexico, have demurred: Earlier on Wednesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she would avoid pursuing “tit-for-tat” tariffs.

Experts say tariffs — a kind of import tax — very often fall on the shoulders of consumers.

Trump has framed his tariffs as a means of reducing trade deficits and bringing foreign manufacturing back to US shores. He also said he plans to use the tariffs to offset the US debt and pave the way for tax cuts.

But critics point out that trade deficits — when the money spent on exports is greater than earnings from imports — are not necessarily a bad thing. They can be a sign of consumer habits or a strong currency.

Opponents of the tariffs also argue that it will take years for new factories to be established in the US, making any economic benefit a distant prospect.

Reporting from the New York Stock Exchange, Al Jazeera correspondent Kristen Saloomey noted that market volatility has been an issue for investors this week, as they braced for the tariffs and the resulting economic uncertainty.

“President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement came after stock markets in the United States had closed in positive territory and immediately sent the futures market into negative territory, signalling another shaky start to the markets on Thursday,” Saloomey said.

What might follow Trump’s announcement, she added, is unclear. Economists have been watching stock market indexes like the S&P 500 for signs of what’s to come.

“Market analysts have been disagreeing as to whether or not we’ve seen the worst of this policy’s impact on markets,” Saloomey explained.

“Some have argued that — with a 10-percent drop in the S&P last month — markets had already priced in the cost of doing business with these tariffs. Others have warned that things might get worse with inflation and even a recession possible in the future as a result of these policies.”

But Trump and his allies have brushed aside fears of an economic downturn. From the Rose Garden, Trump offered a preemptive rebuttal to the foreign leaders who might “complain”.

“To all of the foreign presidents, prime ministers, kings, queens, ambassadors and everyone else who will soon be calling to ask for exemptions from these tariffs, I say: Terminate your own tariffs. Drop your barriers. Don’t manipulate your currencies,” Trump said.

He also signalled he felt the tariffs were relatively generous, given the abuse he felt the US had faced.

“We are being very kind. We’re kind people, very kind,” he said, before adding: “You are not so kind when you get ripped off.”

The yearslong quest by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez to acquire control of the Minnesota Timberwolves finally seems to be in the home stretch, after current owner Glen Taylor opted not to appeal an arbitration panel’s ruling that he must go forward with the $1.5 billion sale.

A person with knowledge of Taylor’s decision confirmed it to The Associated Press on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Timberwolves had not offered any public comment. ESPN first reported the decision.

All that appears to be left is final approval by the NBA’s board of governors, which is the last step before any sale of a team can be completed. In February, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he didn’t see any reason why that would not happen — but he also said the board would go through the full process as always.

“We need to follow the process,” Silver said at that time.

The board of governors could vote at any time. It completed a two-day meeting in New York last week and likely wouldn’t meet again until the summer, but it may not need to wait until then to give the sale its final blessing.

Taylor, who turns 84 later this month, grew up on a Minnesota dairy farm and built a fortune with a business that specialized in printing wedding invitations. He bought the Timberwolves for $88 million in 1994 to prevent the franchise from moving to New Orleans.

It was four years ago this month that he was approached by Lore, the former e-commerce chief for Walmart, and Rodriguez, the former baseball slugger who hit 696 home runs over 22 seasons with the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers.

They quickly agreed on a $1.5 billion deal, and NBA prices have skyrocketed ever since. Last month, the Boston Celtics were sold for a record initial valuation of $6.1 billion — a number that may go even higher before that deal closes.

During the contentious years while the sale was essentially pending, Lore and Rodriguez accused Taylor of having seller’s remorse amid a steady rise in the value of NBA franchises.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA