Trump warns Trudeau he will raise tariffs above 25% in case of tariff war

President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs even further if Canada responds with a reciprocal measure of its own, though he did not indicate in what way this escalation would occur.

"If you respond to a US tariff, our reciprocal tariffs will immediately increase in the same proportion," Trump wrote in a message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he calls "governor," the title he would have if Canada is annexed by the United States.

For Canada, customs tariffs are an "existential threat," as defined by Chancellor Mélanie Joly. "Thousands of jobs are at stake," she warned. Justin Trudeau warned that his country "will respond as of midnight by applying levies of 25% on $155 billion in US goods."

He then went much further by considering that Trump seeks to undermine "the Canadian economy" in order to then "talk about annexing" the country.

The tariffs will affect more than $918 billion in US imports from Canada and Mexico.

This recent escalation comes on the day that tariffs of 25% on Canada and Mexico go into effect. In the case of China, they are 20%. The tariff war that is looming on the international trade scene has shaken stock markets around the world. For the second day in a row, the US stock markets opened Tuesday in negative territory, as did the European and Japanese stock markets.