Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on $20 billion of Canadian goods early Saturday, hours after negotiators in Washington and Ottawa gave up on a deal. Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada will match the tax dollar for dollar.
Narativ reported on 19 August that Trump's Canada deal did not exist. Trump announced it at 11:24pm Eastern that Tuesday, paused the tariff for three days, and set it to return Friday. Carney never confirmed a deal. Three days later Trump let it land, exactly as scheduled.
Here is what that tariff physically does. Customs officers collect it at the American border, and the American company that placed the order pays it. A Michigan manufacturer who buys $100,000 of Ontario-made parts now owes another $50,000 to the US Treasury before the truck clears the crossing at Windsor. He passes what he can to his customers and eats the rest. At 50% he stops treating it as a cost line and starts making a decision: pay half again for the Canadian part, or go find the part somewhere else.
Nobody in Ottawa writes that check.
