Mark Carney and Donald Trump during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match between Spain and Argentina at New York New Jersey Stadium on 19 July. Photograph: Eva Marie Uzcategui/FIFA/Getty Images
Mark Carney and Donald Trump during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match between Spain and Argentina at New York New Jersey Stadium on 19 July. Photograph: Eva Marie Uzcategui/FIFA/Getty Images
As the global economy reels from the war he started with Iran in February, Donald Trump stepped up his trade war with Canada on Monday, signing three proclamations to impose 50% tariffs on most imported Canadian goods, citing a provision of a 1930 trade law.
Trump claimed that the tariffs on one of the most important US trade partners, which risk higher inflation in the US, were justified by what he claimed was Canada’s unfair discrimination against American cars, alcohol and dairy products.
A Trump administration official told the Associated Press that Canada was one of the only nations other than China that retaliated against Trump’s previous tariffs and must be held accountable.
Several Democratic lawmakers last year proposed repealing the section of the 1930 Tariff Act used by Trump, fearing that he could use it to destabilize the economy after many of his tariffs were ruled illegal by the US supreme court.
The new 50% tariffs exclude energy products, fish and critical minerals, but include goods that had previously been protected from import taxes by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. That 2020 trade pact recently expired and triggered a new set of negotiations that could run until 2036.
There could be more tariffs to come. The official who briefed reporters on the proclamations said that Trump had also asked his aides look into additional tariffs on Canada because its wildfires hurt air quality in the US.
At the World Cup final on Sunday, Trump congratulated players on stage with Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney, a tournament co-host, who has pushed back on Trump’s tariffs and threats to annex Canada.
Trump claims in the proclamations that Canada discriminates against American autos, alcohol and cheese relative to other nations, but his argument rests in large part on retaliatory actions taken by Canada after he imposed a series of tariffs on Canada last year.
Trump’s proclamation on alcohol notes that Canadian provinces and territories halted the purchase and retailing of American alcoholic beverages last year, without noting that action was in response to Trump’s tariffs and taunts about making Canada the 51st US state.
This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration on a day when the president imposed new tariffs under an obscure provision of a 1930 law that worsened the Great Depression. Or, as the international trade law expert Scott Lincicome observed: “Tariff Crazytown is officially BACK”.
Here are the latest developments:
As the global economy reels from the war he started with Iran in February, Donald Trump stepped up his trade war with Canada on Monday, signing three proclamations to impose 50% tariffs on most imported Canadian goods, citing a provision of a 1930 trade law.
Canadians across the political spectrum united in anger at Trump. “If these tariffs proceed, Canada should respond tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar,” Ontario premier Doug Ford said. Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, called the tariffs a “direct violation” of the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement Trump negotiated. Canada’s Conservatives called the tariffs “another unacceptable and unjustified attack on Canadian workers and our businesses,” adding: “Canadians are not a punching bag.” The leader of Canada’s New Democrats called them “the latest economic grenade thrown over the border by an out of control President who has lost touch with reality.”
Ilya Somin, a professor of law at George Mason University who helped file the successful challenge to Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs, points out, the president’s new 50% tariffs on Canadian imports “are based on Section 338 of the notorious 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff legislation, which severely exacerbated the Great Depression.”
Nancy Mace, a Republican congresswoman from South Carolina, announced on Monday that she is not entering the race to replace the late senator Lindsey Graham in the snap Republican primary next month.
Trump's legal authority for new Canadian tariffs? Smoot–Hawley.
In a blog post for Reason magazine, Ilya Somin, a professor of law at George Mason University who helped file the successful challenge to Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs, points out, the president’s new 50% tariffs on Canadian imports “are based on Section 338 of the notorious 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff legislation, which severely exacerbated the Great Depression.”
This novel use of the infamous 1930 law, which, as all viewers of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off know, did not work, is, Somin argues “just the latest of a series of efforts by Trump to usurp congressional tariff authority and impose harmful and dangerous trade restrictions that damage the US economy and poison relations with our allies and trading partners, of which Canada is one of the most important.”
As the economic historian Phil Magness predicted last year, Trump cited Section 338 of the 1930 law to justify his new tariffs on Monday.
As Magness explained in October the authority comes from the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act, “which turned an economic downturn into a decade-long catastrophe.” Magness went on:
Fearing foreign retaliation against its own protective tariff schedule under Smoot–Hawley, Congress authorized the president to impose tariffs of up to 50 percent on any country that deploys discriminatory trade practices against the United States. Section 338 did not work as intended, as Smoot–Hawley triggered a catastrophic global trade war that brought international commerce to a halt, destroyed the U.S. export market, and thrust us deeper into the Great Depression. Its language remains on the books as a vestigial relic of this notorious law, although its functions have been superseded by later tariff law revisions that imposed more restrictions on the president’s authority.
Canadians across the political spectrum united in anger at Trump's new tariff threat
Canadians across the political spectrum united in anger on Monday to denounce Donald Trump’s new 50% tariffs on imports from Canada.
While the prime minister, Mark Carney, chose his words carefully, opposition parties from his right and left were more forceful in their reaction.
Leaders of Canada’s Conservative party, including the shadow minister for Canada-US relations, Shuv Majumdar, called Trump’s latest tariffs “another unacceptable and unjustified attack on Canadian workers and our businesses,” adding: “Canadians are not a punching bag. Their anxieties about their future have only been deepened. These tariffs must be withdrawn immediately.”
“Fourteen months ago, Prime Minister Mark Carney described the breakdown in our relationship with the United States as the worst economic crisis since the Second World War. He was right,” the generally pro-Trump party leaders continued.
“President Trump is wrong to target Canadian workers and must reverse these tariffs immediately,” they added.
From the opposite end of the spectrum, the leader of Canada’s progressive New Democrats party, Avi Lewis, was even more blunt.
“The announcement of 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian goods is the latest economic grenade thrown over the border by an out of control President who has lost touch with reality,” Lewis posted on social media. “It is a direct attack on Canadian workers and industries, putting thousands of jobs at risk. And it will drive up costs for American consumers, who like Canadian consumers, are already feeling pain at the pumps and supermarket checkouts because of Trump’s illegal war on Iran.”
“Donald Trump is trying a new, obscure legal basis for this latest attack,” Lewis went on, referring to the legal authority Trump cited, Section 338 of the 1930 Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act that’s never been used before to impose tariffs.
“If these tariffs go ahead, we must be prepared to fight them with counter-tariffs and put every dollar behind supporting workers in affected sectors,” Lewis added. “The Carney government must refrain from more concessions. We are tired of being treated as Trump’s tariff guinea pigs. New Democrats stand with workers, communities and all Canadians in defiance of this newest threat to our economy and sovereignty.
Canadian leader Mark Carney points out Canada 'has merely matched' tariffs imposed by Trump
Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, has released a statement in response to threats from Donald Trump to impose new 50% tariffs on Canadian goods in 30 days unless Canada removes barriers on US auto, alcohol and dairy products.
Carney noted that all of the measures imposed by Canada on imports from the US that Trump complained of on Monday were taken in retaliation to previous US tariffs imposed by Trump.
Here is Carney’s full statement:
“Today, the United States administration announced its intention to impose a new 50% tariff on a significant number of Canadian goods.
This is the latest in a series of unilateral U.S. trade actions that began with the U.S. imposing a series of tariffs in direct violation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), the free trade agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
These include tariffs on the Canadian auto sector, in violation of CUSMA. Canada, as is its right, has merely matched those measures.
More broadly, in response to these measures and threats to Canadian sovereignty, provinces, territories, and Canadians from coast to coast to coast have stood together, taking the necessary actions to support our economy and defend our workers, farmers, businesses, and families.
Recognising that the U.S. has been transforming all of its trade relationships, including those covered under CUSMA, over the past 18 months, Canada has made a series of detailed and comprehensive proposals to resolve this dispute and to modernise CUSMA. We stand ready to intensify those discussions in the coming weeks.
Canada believes in the benefits of free and fair trade, as evidenced by our new government signing more than 20 new economic and security partnerships. This trade dispute has raised costs for families, particularly in the U.S. Canada stands ready to engage intensively to address outstanding issues with the U.S. to the mutual benefit of our citizens.
In all circumstances, Canada will work relentlessly and take any measures necessary to build our strength at home and to support Canadian workers, farmers, businesses, and families.”
As part of the Trump administration’s continuing attack on left-leaning groups, the US state department has listed several activists and organizations as “front groups and fellow travelers” for Cuba, including Hasan Piker and Amazon Labor Union founder Chris Smalls.
In a 100-page report released on Monday, the state department denounces Cuba as the “capital of 21st-century communism”, accusing the Cuban government of carrying out a “campaign of subversion” that has “infiltrated the highest reaches of the US government, recruited and cultivated generations of American activists [and] backed an unprecedented wave of leftwing terrorism on American soil”.
The state department report alleges that the so-called campaign is “designed to turn America against itself” and singles out several left-leaning activists and organizations, including the Democratic Socialists of America, Isra Hirsi – the daughter of Minnesota Democratic representative Ilhan Omar – New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, and journalist Amy Goodman, citing their criticism of US policy toward Cuba or participation in Cuba solidarity movements.
Describing the DSA, of which Mamdani is a member, the report says the organization “serves as a particularly potent illustration of the ideological victory of Cuba’s effort to position itself as the spiritual capital of Third Worldist radicalism”. It accuses the DSA of maintaining a “fierce, almost religious commitment to the cause of the Cuban regime – not because the group is controlled by Cuban agents, per se, but because that commitment is now simply the de facto policy orthodoxy on the American far left”.
Trump has doubled down on similar messaging in recent days, using the term communism at political rallies and presidential engagements alike.
For more than 60 years, the US has maintained a sweeping economic embargo on Cuba, in addition to crippling sanctions imposed by numerous administrations. Despite US claims that its policies are designed to pressure the Cuban government, Havana and many international critics including human rights organizations say they have severely hurt the island’s economy.
US distillers alarmed by Trump's 'further escalation' of trade dispute with Canada
American distillers are worried that Donald Trump’s new 50% tariffs on spirits imported from Canada, announced on Monday and due to go into effect 19 August, could intensify the trade war the president began last year, denting their profits.
“For nearly a year and a half, American spirits have been pulled from store shelves across much of Canada as collateral damage in a broader trade dispute unrelated to our sector, and we appreciate the Administration’s recognition of the significant damage these restrictions have caused U.S. distillers,” Chris Swonger, chief executive of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, said in a statement on Monday.
“We had hoped, however, that this issue could be resolved without further escalation,” Swonger continued. The new tariff “deepens trade tensions and raises the risk of further retaliation at a time when many U.S. hospitality businesses continue to face financial hardships,” he added, before calling for “policymakers on both sides of the border to pursue a negotiated solution”.
The US trade group makes clear what the Trump administration has not: that Canadians only stopped selling US alcohol last year in response to Trump’s actions. “Canadian provinces removed U.S. spirits from retail shelves in March 2025 in retaliation to U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods,” the council says. As a result, US exports to Canada “fell more than 70% year-over-year from the start of the retaliatory ban in March 2025 through December 2025,” the industry group adds.
The bans have only been lifted in two Canadian provinces: Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Canadian Chamber of Commerce calls for talks before Trump's threatened tariffs go into effect in 30 days
The president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Candace Laing, called for talks between the US and Canada before Donald Trump’s newly announced 50% tariffs on Canadian imports take effect in 30 days.
“We knew this would get bumpier before landing. We shared our concerns with the Canadian government about the rising threat Section 338 tariffs posed, given something like this could be coming, “Laing said in a statement, referring to the section of a 1930 US trade law cited by Trump.
”While this is a regrettable escalation by the U.S. Administration, we now have 30 days before this comes into effect,” she added. “Both sides need to use this window to make meaningful progress in advancing formal talks. There are important discussions to get to that will strengthen not threaten our shared prosperity.”
Ontario premier Doug Ford says Canada should retaliate for new Trump tariffs
Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, who leads the Canadian province that has suffered the most from US auto tariffs, called on Canada to retaliate for the new 50% tariffs announced on Monday by Donald Trump, should they go into effect in 30 days.
“I’ll never stop fighting to protect Ontario,” Ford wrote on social media. “If these tariffs proceed, Canada should respond tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar.”
Last year, Ford’s province paid for an anti-tariff television ad that infuriated Trump, because it used parts of a 1987 speech against tariffs given by Ronald Reagan and ran during Major League Baseball World Series games between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
An anti-tariff ad paid for by the government of Ontario in 2025.
Earlier on Monday, Ford also called Trump’s threat to impose additional tariffs on Canada for failing to prevent wildfire smoke from drifting over the border into the US a “bunch of rubbish.”
Ford pointed out that smoke from wildfires in the US also travels north to Canada.
“With all the assets the US has, and he’s sitting there complaining, why don’t you send up some water bombers?” Ford also asked of Trump. “Why don’t you start helping, like we would help you, in a heartbeat?”
“You should support your neighbors, that’s my message to the president,” Ford added.
Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, said in a statement that the new 50% tariffs on imported Canadian goods imposed on Monday by Donald Trump, under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, was entirely justified.
“While the Administration continues to secure fair and reciprocal trade deals with our trading partners, Canada, unlike other partners and allies, continues to retaliate against the United States for its efforts to rebalance trade and protect U.S. industry in national-security sensitive sectors,” Greer said. “Specifically, Canada has taken U.S. alcohol products off Canadian shelves, given better market access to dairy products from the European Union, and has put a cap on U.S. vehicle exports to Canada from companies reshoring to the United States.”
What Greer did not say is that Canada’s actions, including local bans on selling US alcohol products in some Canadian provinces, were taken in response to tariffs imposed by Trump in the first place, and his threats to annex the country.
Democrats have seized on the deaths of three US troops killed in Iranian strikes to urge Donald Trump to urgently reverse his resumption of the war with Iran amid widespread anxiety over climbing casualties.
Even as US forces launched a 10th consecutive wave of attacks against Iranian targets, concern over the deaths of American service personnel threatened to complicate moves to escalate the conflict, which has reignited after he last week walked away from a memorandum of understanding agreed with Iran in June.
The Pentagon released the names of two soldiers killed in a strike on Muwaffaq Salti air base in Jordan on Friday. They were First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Private Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas.
A third member of the armed forces was killed in northern Iraq on Saturday in what US Central Command called a “controlled detonation” of unexploded ordnance. The remains of a possible fourth dead service member were found over the weekend in Jordan.
Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut, accused Trump of having “frighteningly lost control of this war”.
“For those of us who pay attention to the hour-to-hour pace of the Iran War, things are getting very dark very quickly,” he wrote on social media. “The scale of attacks – and threats of escalation – are increasing rapidly.”
“The reckless and costly war of choice in Iran has been a disaster for the American people,” wrote Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives. “May God continue to watch over our troops who have needlessly been put into harm’s way.”
Mark Warner, the vice chair of the Senate intelligence committee and a Democrat from Virginia, said there were “hundreds of seriously wounded” US personnel, and added it was “remarkable” that casualty figures had not been higher.
As the global economy reels from the war he started with Iran in February, Donald Trump stepped up his trade war with Canada on Monday, signing three proclamations to impose 50% tariffs on most imported Canadian goods, citing a provision of a 1930 trade law.
Trump claimed that the tariffs on one of the most important US trade partners, which risk higher inflation in the US, were justified by what he claimed was Canada’s unfair discrimination against American cars, alcohol and dairy products.
A Trump administration official told the Associated Press that Canada was one of the only nations other than China that retaliated against Trump’s previous tariffs and must be held accountable.
Several Democratic lawmakers last year proposed repealing the section of the 1930 Tariff Act used by Trump, fearing that he could use it to destabilize the economy after many of his tariffs were ruled illegal by the US supreme court.
The new 50% tariffs exclude energy products, fish and critical minerals, but include goods that had previously been protected from import taxes by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. That 2020 trade pact recently expired and triggered a new set of negotiations that could run until 2036.
There could be more tariffs to come. The official who briefed reporters on the proclamations said that Trump had also asked his aides look into additional tariffs on Canada because its wildfires hurt air quality in the US.
At the World Cup final on Sunday, Trump congratulated players on stage with Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney, a tournament co-host, who has pushed back on Trump’s tariffs and threats to annex Canada.
Trump claims in the proclamations that Canada discriminates against American autos, alcohol and cheese relative to other nations, but his argument rests in large part on retaliatory actions taken by Canada after he imposed a series of tariffs on Canada last year.
Trump’s proclamation on alcohol notes that Canadian provinces and territories halted the purchase and retailing of American alcoholic beverages last year, without noting that action was in response to Trump’s tariffs and taunts about making Canada the 51st US state.
Donald Trump has said Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, “will not be arrested” if he visits the US.
His comments came days after Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, said he was exploring whether his administration could arrest Netanyahu if he visits the city during the UN general assembly in September.
In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump said Netanyahu, who has been the subject of an international criminal court arrest warrant since November 2024 over alleged war crimes in Gaza, “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form while in the United States of America”.
Trump added that Netanyahu is “fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran” and said “the only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented spiral of death and destruction”.
Speaking to the New York Times on Saturday, Mamdani had said: “I believe that prime minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” where the international criminal court is based, adding: “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the international criminal court, and what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these past many years.”
Mamdani, who has described Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide, also said he is in “an active conversation” with New York City’s law department about his legal authority to direct the New York police to detain Netanyahu. “Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do,” he said, adding: “But we won’t be writing our own laws to that end.”
