Multiple tariffs could hit over the next 4 weeks. Here are the key dates

Canadians are bracing for U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs that are set to hit Canada as early as midnight on Monday after weeks of criticism around border security.

But the broad-based, sweeping tariffs that Trump has linked to migrants and fentanyl crossing the border are not the only set of tariffs that are expected to hit over the next few weeks.

Here are some of the trade actions that the Trump administration is planning to impose on its trading partners.

The first set of tariffs, which are scheduled to go into effect on Tuesday, are the broad-based 25 per cent tariffs on all goods coming in from Canada and Mexico, with a lower 10 per cent rate for Canadian energy exports and an additional 10 per cent on Chinese goods.

Trump has said these tariffs are aimed at curbing the flow of illegal substances, specifically fentanyl, coming in through the border into the United States.

Trump has said fentanyl makes its way through the Mexican and Canadian borders. According to Canadian federal data, less than one per cent of the fentanyl entering the U.S. comes from Canada.

Data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency shows that in January, fentanyl seizures at the Canada-U.S. border dropped to the lowest levels since 2023, with less than 14 grams seized during the month. Around 19 kilograms of fentanyl from Canada were apprehended in the last fiscal year.

These tariffs were originally slated to go into effect at 12:01 am EST on Tues., Feb. 4.

However, Canadian industry breathed a sigh of relief when Trump agreed to pause tariffs on Canada after a phone call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

While it was not clear what the revised timing of the tariffs would be, the U.S. decided on a one-month break. This would imply that the tariffs go into effect at 12:01 am EST. on Tues., March. 4.

However, the Trump administration has not communicated this in writing.

After the call with Trump, Trudeau said Ottawa was going ahead with an already-promised $1.3 billion-plan to strengthen the Canada-U.S. border and stop the flow of illegal goods.

While it is unclear whether Canada and Mexico’s efforts at the border will be enough to satisfy Trump, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a Fox News interview on Sunday that both of America’s neighbours had done a “reasonable job on the border.”

Trudeau has announced $155 billion in planned retaliatory tariffs if these tariffs go ahead.

Last month, Trump signed a pair of presidential proclamations that will impose 25 per cent tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum starting March 12, with no exceptions or exemptions.

These tariffs would stack on top of the 25 per cent across-the-board tariff on Canadian goods that he has already vowed, the White House confirmed to Global News.

That means the tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. would total 50 per cent.

“I think it’s going to be very chaotic,” Jean Simard, CEO of the Aluminum Association of Canada, told Global News last week.

“We’re already hearing and reading about the companies, large companies, that are saying you (Canada) have to push back on this because it doesn’t make any sense,” he added.

Last month, Trump also announced plans for sweeping reciprocal tariffs on goods entering the country.

These don’t name Canada or Mexico specifically, but would apply to all of America’s trading partners with a broad range of trade measures.

Broadly speaking, a reciprocal tariff would appear to be aimed at matching either the value or the spirit of any tariffs or trade measure in place by other countries on American products.

This is different from what has become known in the Canadian context as a retaliatory tariff, which has been used when discussing a response to hit back at new tariffs imposed by the U.S. on Canada.

For example, Canada does not have across-the-board tariffs on American goods.

If Trump follows through on his threat to impose those sweeping 25 per cent tariffs over fentanyl and the border on Tuesday, those sweeping U.S. tariffs would not be reciprocal, since Canada does not have any matching ones already in place.

Speaking to the press last week after his first meeting of his new federal cabinet, Trump said these tariffs would go into effect on April 2.

“I was going to do it on April 1st, but I’m a little bit superstitious. So I made it April 2nd. The tariffs go on. Not all of them, but a lot of them,” Trump said.

The executive order said the newest tariff approach “will be of comprehensive scope, examining non-reciprocal trade relationships with all United States trading partners.”

While Ottawa is party to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Agreement (CUSMA), which is up for renegotiation next year, Canada could be affected by reciprocal tariffs depending on how Washington interprets the trade relationship.

The executive order described “non-reciprocal trade relationships” in very broad terms, including any tariffs on U.S. products, taxes and non-tariff barriers on U.S. businesses, workers, and consumers and “policies and practices that cause exchange rates to deviate from their market value.”

A non-reciprocal trade relationship, the executive order said, would be one which “in the judgment of the United States Trade Representative … imposes any unfair limitation on market access.”

It added that a “non-tariff barrier” would be described as “any government-imposed measure or policy or non-monetary barrier that restricts, prevents, or impedes international trade in goods.”