Trump says U.S. will hike Canada auto tariffs to 50% as trade war escalates

BREAKING: Trump says the US will raise tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks and auto parts to 50% from Jan. 1, 2027, declaring 'we don't need Canada' after trade talks collapsed.

Fifty percent tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks and auto parts. That's Trump's new number, starting January first, 2027.

He announced it after trade talks collapsed, and his exact words were, we don't need Canada. There he is making the case.

Here's why that line is doing a lot of work. The North American auto industry isn't two industries, it's one. A single car can cross the border half a dozen times before it's finished, engines one way, transmissions the other, much of it over the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, which you can see here. A 50 percent tax on every crossing doesn't punish Canada alone, it lands on Michigan and Ohio too.

And Ottawa has been here before. Prime Minister Mark Carney has already traded blows with Washington this year, and nothing about this suggests he folds now.

The hardest fact tonight is the date. Automakers have sixteen months to rewire supply chains built over sixty years.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.