U.S. President Donald Trump called Canada’s exchange rate with the United States “unacceptable” in a post on Truth Social on Sunday morning, roughly a day and a half before Canadian counter-tariffs on $27.6 billion of American goods take effect.
“Canada’s (currency) Dollar imbalance with the U.S. is unacceptable. It has been that way for years – but no longer!” the post read. It was timestamped 9:10 a.m. Eastern on Sunday, September 6, and signed “President DJT.” It carried no further explanation, named no policy and set out no mechanism.
What the rate actually is
The Bank of Canada’s most recently published daily rate, for Friday, September 4, put one U.S. dollar at 1.3840 Canadian — about 72.3 U.S. cents to the Canadian dollar. Currency markets were closed over the weekend and are closed again Monday for Labour Day.
Neither government sets that number directly. The Canadian dollar floats, and its value is determined in the market.
What takes effect Tuesday
Canada’s countermeasures come into force at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, September 8. The Department of Finance says they apply at 15, 25 and 50 per cent, “with individual product rates based on the matching U.S. rate for the same goods,” to roughly $27.6 billion of imports from the United States — steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics.
They answer a U.S. measure that took effect on August 22, when Washington applied a 50 per cent tariff to $27.6 billion of Canadian goods under Section 338 and Section 232 authorities.
The same August 25 announcement set out $7.5 billion in support for affected workers and businesses: $3.5 billion in Rapid Response Supports for Workers and Employers, a $2 billion Canada Strong Diversification Fund, $1.5 billion through a Regional Tariff Response Initiative, and a $500 million liquidity stream through the Business Development Bank of Canada.
“When the United States asked too much and offered too little, we chose to stand up for Canadians,” Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in that release.
What changes for shoppers and small businesses
The practical change arrives Tuesday on the Canadian side of the border. Cheese of every variety, concentrated milk and whey, honey, plywood and laminated lumber, chemical wood pulp, coated and kraft papers, tissue, certain carpets and clothing, perfumes and cosmetics, glass containers and a long list of steel products are among the goods carrying the 50 per cent rate. Coniferous sawn lumber, some paper grades, toilet paper and several cheeses carry 25 per cent.
Trump’s post did not say what, if anything, the United States intends to do about the exchange rate. As of publication, the Prime Minister’s Office had not responded publicly to it.
Source: Donald J. Trump on Truth Social, September 6, 2026.
