Trade lawyers say to take Trump’s latest tariff threat on Canada seriously: ‘Don’t bet’ on talks to avert them
Ben Werschkul· Washington Correspondent
Tue, July 21, 2026 at 10:56 PM GMT+5:30
4 min read
The trade community quickly reacted Tuesday to the news that President Trump is set to impose 50% tariffs on an array of Canadian goods. While there’s hope that cooler heads could prevail before the rules take effect, there’s little optimism after 17 months of a tense relationship between the US and Canada
“Businesses should treat them as a credible possibility,” Andrew Siciliano, head of trade at KPMG, said in a note to Yahoo Finance. He’s telling companies to immediately improve their position the best they can. But he acknowledged that “thirty days is a very short timeframe in supply chain planning.”
Ted Murphy, an international trade lawyer at Sidley Austin, said in a note to clients that talks could avert new duties but “given the state of U.S.-Canada trade relations, I am not sure I would bet on it.”
Trump signed three presidential proclamations on Monday to register White House objections to Canadian actions around automobiles, alcohol, and dairy products. In response, he announced the 50% tariffs on a variety of goods but with a stipulation that they won’t go into effect for 30 days.
The Trump team said they’re willing to talk with Canada, but no formal meetings are currently on the books. It’s also unclear whether Monday’s surprise move — based on a never-before-used provision of Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 — will stand up in court
Joyce Adetutu, an international trade lawyer at Vinson & Elkins, noted that Trump has shown willingness to negotiate both before and after harsh new tariffs are imposed
As such, potentially impacted businesses need to be prepared for short-term costs, but “it may not be critical at this juncture to reconsider supply chain entirely pending further discussions.”
This move marks a new level of rupture and could be especially disruptive as these tariffs are set to apply even to goods that were previously exempted under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)
“Canada’s been very, very tough on us over the years,” Trump added Tuesday in the Oval Office. He criticized Canada’s leadership and claimed, “They need us to survive.”
The president added that even more Canadian tariffs could be coming in the weeks ahead in response to smoke from recent wildfires
No timeline for further talks
Both Washington and Ottawa have made it clear that it’s a stalemate for now
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the country is ready to engage with the US in his official response. He noted that Canada is looking to “modernize” the USMCA trade pact to try and address one complaint from Trump
