U.S. Hits 185 Nations with Tariffs — Canada, Mexico Exempt Under USMCA

On April 2, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a series of reciprocal tariffs affecting 185 countries. Importantly, no new tariffs were announced for Canada. Canada and Mexico’s exemption for USMCA/CUSMA qualifying goods was maintained.
However, 25% tariffs on non-USMCA compliant Canadian goods, Canadian steel and aluminum, Canadian autos and parts, and the 10% tariff on Canadian energy exports remain in place.

Canada’s Response

In a calibrated retaliation, the Canadian government has outlined new reciprocal 25% tariffs on U.S. autos, but Canada’s tariffs will exclude auto parts. This new targeted $8B measure is in addition to the previous two rounds of Canadian counter tariffs. The $125B counter-tariff list that the Department of Finance had been consulting on for the past several weeks seems to have been put on hold for the time being. As many retail goods were captured on the proposed list, this is good news. However, the existing Canadian retaliatory tariffs will remain in place for the time being.

Though it is difficult to predict the trajectory of this file under President Trump’s administration, there are signs that negotiators on both sides are trying to steer Canada-US trade to a more productive process of an expedited renegotiation of the Canada-US-Mexico Trade Agreement (CUSMA). One would expect that a good faith element in such negotiations would be the temporary suspension of all or most tariffs in place in either direction.

Economic Concerns

With the global trade war launched yesterday by the United States, we are entering very troubling economic times and uncertainty reigns. So far, markets have responded very negatively, and other countries have begun to announce their various retaliatory measures. Asian countries have been disproportionately targeted by the Trump administration’s tariffs, and as a result, this will impact U.S. retailers who source their goods from these countries. The knock-on effect of the tariffs on consumer confidence, inflation, the U.S. economy, and the Canadian economy will remain a challenge for Canadian retailers to navigate for weeks and months to come.

RCC Advocacy and Feedback

The RCC is actively engaging with government officials to advocate on behalf of retailers and is compiling feedback on the impact of these tariffs. Members are encouraged to share their experiences and concerns to inform these efforts.

For further information visit the RCC Tariff resource webpage. To provide feedback, please contact Matt Poirier, Vice President, Government Relations at mpoirier@retailcouncil.org