'It's unfair!' US-Canada trade war erupts after talks come crashing down at last second

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Canada will now be slapped with steep 50 per cent tariffs on some goods - and will hit back 'dollar for dollar'

The US and Canada's trade war has deepened after talks between the two countries broke down at the last moment.

The North American neighbours failed to reach a deal late on Friday night, both sides said - and the US has now slapped steep 50 per cent tariffs on some imports from Canada.

A senior Trump administration official said tariffs on about $20billion (£14.6billion) worth of Canadian goods went into effect just after midnight on Saturday (5am on Saturday BST).

Those goods include wine, dairy, cement, clothing and hockey equipment.

They come in addition to existing tariffs the US had already imposed on Canadian steel and aluminium, vehicles and lumber.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said he had suspended negotiations and vowed to retaliate "dollar for dollar" on the new levies.

Mr Carney said the US terms were "unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal".

The collapse followed three straight days of talks in Washington DC between Canada's Minister for Trade with the US, Dominic LeBlanc, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Mr Greer said the States had offered Canada significant tariff reductions on steel, aluminum, vehicles and lumber, alongside a broader economic and national security partnership covering areas including digital trade, critical minerals, aerospace and export controls.

"This is a missed opportunity for Canada to partner with the United States, which is the fastest growing economy in the G7," he said.

This week marked the climax of intense talks which have rumbled on since July.

Back then, Donald Trump threatened to impose the 50 per cent tariff on Canadian imports by August 19.

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Mr Trump temporarily paused those tariffs earlier this week, saying the two sides were close to signing a trade deal.

"We should be able to have a deal with Canada... I only make good deals," he told reporters on Friday.

Details of the potential deal suggested the US would halve tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium from 50 to 25 per cent, and reduce tariffs on Canadian cars from 25 to 15 per cent.

In exchange, Mr Carney had asked Canadian provinces to restore US alcohol to shop shelves.

Tensions between the two countries have simmered since Mr Trump returned to office last January and unleashed tariffs around the world - shattering decades of free trade between Canada and the US.

Since then, stop-start talks with the US had rumbled on in a bid to seal a deal that would see the US drop or reduce tariffs on steel, aluminium, vehicles and lumber.

The US, meanwhile, had asked for a number of concessions from Canada, including removing its remaining retaliatory tariffs on American vehicles and adjusting its dairy quotas to allow more access for US cheese producers.