Canada’s tit-for-tat tariffs targeting $20 billion U.S. imported goods kicked off today, as neither Prime Minister Mark Carney nor President Donald Trump appeared willing to compromise and back down in the bitter trade dispute that reached a climax last month.

Mr Carney, who vowed to match the U.S. tariffs on Canadian products, “dollar to dollar,” imposed higher import duties on American clothing, perfume, milk, cheese, golf clubs, aluminum, wooden materials in a retaliatory response to Mr Trump’s 50 per cent tariff.

The Canada leader gave the U.S. advanced notice of the updated tariffs about two weeks ago shortly after Mr Trump threatened to make Canada pay for failing to agree to his proposed trade terms.

Mr Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Canadian milk, hockey sticks, alcoholic drinks, honey, plywood, jewellery and other goods.

“I don’t want Canadian cars, I don’t want Canadian parts, I don’t want Canadian anything,” Mr Trump wrote on social media last month. “They’ve been ripping us off for decades, and it’s going to stop.”

Negotiations between both countries deadlocked last month with neither side willing to shift ground on its terms.

On Monday, Mr Trump called for a boycott of Bombardier, a Canadian company that manufactures aircraft. 

“No more selling Bombardier in the United States.,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Buy American. Fly on American airlines. Enjoy American liquor and beverages.”

Mr Trump also urged U.S. citizens to “sail on Lake America” referring to what Canadians called Lake Ontario.

Bombardier released a statement that affirmed the company as “a strong contributor to the sector, creating tens of thousands of jobs across the U.S.”