Canadian Tariffs Hit $20B in U.S. Imports

Tuesday, September 8th, 2026

Pre-market futures are in the red to varying degrees across all major trading indexes to start a new holiday-shortened week. Mostly, this is due to the retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports by our neighbor to the north, Canada. Now $20 billion in U.S. goods — from metals to apparel to milk — are being slapped with a +15%, +25% or +50% tariff, as of today.

The U.S. had implemented a new tranche of tariffs against Canada a couple weeks ago, back when President Trump proposed Americans call one of the Great Lakes by a different name. That amounted to $20 billion in Canadian goods tariffed — from cosmetics to electronics to industrial equipment. It was also the third time this year the U.S. has tariffed Canadian goods.

These actions generate higher cost structures and/or lower profit margins. Essentially, they add to inflation. It’s unlikely any of these Canadian tariffs are going to show up in this week’s Inflation Rate on Friday, but nevertheless, the Dow is -472 points at this hour, the S&P 500 -24, the Nasdaq -9 and the small-cap Russell 2000 is -10 points currently.
 

CPI Inflation Numbers Out Friday

In fact, analysts expect the Inflation Rate (year-over-year headline Consumer Price Index [CPI] inflation) to be in-line in August from July: +3.4%. This print has come down to straight months following May’s +4.2%, which was a three-year high. Of course, headline inflation includes volatile food and energy prices, so the Iran war and closure of the Strait of Hormuz is obviously in play regarding these figures.

Core CPI, then — subtracting those food and energy costs — is expected to tick down from +2.5% to +2.4% for last month. These numbers have also come down two straight months, from May’s +2.9%, which was the loftiest print since September of last year. These are obviously much better than the headline levels, and only a few basis points from where the Fed had been attempting to wrestle inflation down to: +2%.
 

What to Expect from the Stock Market Today

We’re still a week-plus away from the next Fed meeting, which will determine interest rate policy, and a month before Q3 earnings season begins. Obviously, we will keep an eye trained on the Strait of Hormuz and other events in the Middle East, as spot oil prices — $93/bbl on WTI, $98/bbl on Brent — are back up this morning. 

Bond yields, on the other hand, are down from their highest levels of the last week or so: +4.77% on the 10-year, +4.36% on the 2-year and +5.22% on the 30-year. Real-life conditions can send these figures profoundly in one direction or the other, and these then have clear effects on market trading levels. As we muddle through until Friday’s CPI report, we’ll stay aware of the changing world around us.

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