The trade war between Canada and the United States has officially kicked into high gear after high stakes talks between the two countries collapsed last weekend.

President Donald Trump’s escalated tariffs came into effect on Saturday and a series of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Cabinet members unveiled roughly $27.6 billion in counter-tariffs on Tuesday, to take effect on Sept. 8.

JAY GOLDBERG: Retaliatory tariffs will raise costs for consumers, from food to air conditioners and everything in between Back to video

In the weeks leading up to the collapse of trade talks, Canadian politicians took to U.S. airwaves, warning that Trump’s plans to increase tariffs on Canadian goods entering the United States would backfire by raising costs for U.S. consumers.

“A tariff on Canada is a tax on the American people,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford on American television just last weekend.

Those politicians, like Ford, were right.

Unfortunately, the federal government has chosen to respond to Trump’s tariffs by introducing tens of billions of dollars of tariffs of its own, which will only serve to raise costs for Canadian consumers.

“When the........

© Edmonton Sun