What Trump's new tariffs on Canada mean for your wallet

Hockey sticks, wine and orchid plants are among an array of goods targeted by new 50% tariffs on imports from Canada, one of the largest U.S. trade partners.

The move risks higher prices for some household goods as shoppers weather a bout of resurgent inflation set off by the Iran war.

Due to exemptions for some key products, however, the measure is expected to hit only a fraction of U.S. imports from Canada, some economists told ABC News.

President Donald Trump issued the tariffs on Monday in a series of executive orders, saying the move had been made in retaliation for Canadian policies he considers discriminatory against U.S. exports. The tariffs are set to take effect in 30 days.

“President Trump is offsetting the burden and disadvantage on U.S. commerce from Canada’s discriminatory treatment of U.S. commerce and is leveling the playing field for crucial American exports—cars, alcohol, and dairy,” the White House said.

In a statement, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney criticized a flurry of U.S. tariffs put forward since last year, saying Canada has “merely matched those measures.”

"This trade dispute has raised costs for families, particularly in the U.S. Canada stands ready to engage intensively to address outstanding issues with the U.S. to the mutual benefit of our citizens,” Carney said.

Here’s what the tariffs on Canadian goods mean for your wallet:

Which products will be hit by the new tariffs on Canada?

The fresh round of levies targets scores of products imported from Canada, according to details released by the White House on Monday.

The list features food items such as dairy products, honey, whey protein and molasses; as well as alcoholic beverages like wine, whiskey and tequila. Sporting goods are among the targeted items, including hockey sticks and fishing rods.

Paper cups, wool gloves, cotton t-shirts and sand-blasting machines make up a sample of additional products subject to the levies.

Unlike previous tariffs, the measure applies to products compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, a free trade agreement. Still, the levies include significant exemptions, leaving out some top Canadian imports such as oil, gas and potash.

Importers typically offset the tax burden of tariffs in the form of higher prices for shoppers. As of Monday, total costs from all U.S. tariffs amounted to $550 in additional annual expenses for each household, the Yale Budget Lab said.

How expansive is the set of products slapped with new tariffs on Canada?

The tariffs target some attention-grabbing items like hockey sticks and dairy products. The overall scale of the targeted goods, however, is fairly small, some economists told ABC News.

The targeted products account for about $20 billion in imports from Canada last year, which amounts to roughly 5% of the total value of goods shipped from Canada in 2025, Stephen Brown, chief North American economist at Capital Economics, said in a note shared with ABC News.

Zooming out even further, the $20 billion in targeted goods amounts to 0.6% of total U.S. imports last year, Brown added, describing the swathe of affected goods as “narrow.”

What happens next for Trump’s new tariffs on Canada?

The proposed tariffs will take effect in 30 days, unless Trump opts to modify or reverse the measure, as he has done after some previous levy announcements.

Trump has carried out on-again, off-again trade negotiations with Canada since he took office, aiming to resolve a dispute that began with tariffs announced by Trump early in his second term.

The delayed implementation of the levies could signal a willingness to strike an accord with Canada, Abigail Watt, an economist at UBS, said in a memo shared with ABC News.

“This leaves the door open for negotiations,” Watt said.

A senior Trump administration official told ABC News that the U.S. and Canada have held "substantive discussions," but the two sides "are not in a formal negotiating stage at this point."

The measure could also face a legal challenge, causing further delay or nullifying the move entirely.

Trump imposed the tariffs under a legal authority enshrined in section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which allows the president to enact levies up to 50% for countries found to have discriminated against the U.S. relative to their treatment of other nations.

The provision has never been invoked before, meaning the move lacks judicial precedent, Watt said. The statute also holds some ambiguity on the matter of identifying whether a targeted country has in fact discriminated against the U.S. in its trade policies, Watt added.

The fresh tariffs on Canada arrived ahead of other major developments in U.S. tariff policy. A 10% across-the-board tariff is set to expire on Friday, marking a major reduction of overall U.S. levies.

The Trump administration has hinted at forthcoming moves meant to reconstruct wide-ranging levies struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this year.

“We expect to see some action soon,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC on Tuesday.

ABC News' Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.