‘We will not hesitate’: Canada prepares to hit U.S. with billions in tariffs [Video]

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly attends a first ministers meeting in Ottawa on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Ottawa is ready to retaliate if U.S. president-elect Donald Trump slaps Canada with devastating tariffs, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised Friday — and his ministers say Republicans in Washington don’t fully understand the likely impact of the duties on both countries’ economies.

“We will not hesitate to act,” Trudeau said at a meeting of the newly formed Council on Canada-U.S. Relations in Toronto. “We will respond and, I will say it again, everything is on the table.”

The incoming president has promised to apply 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs on imports from Canada when he returns to the White House on Monday.

Canada has multiple options for retaliatory tariffs ready to go depending on what Trump ultimately does, said two federal government sources with knowledge of the tariff response …