Canada will impose tariffs of 25% to 50% on nearly 900 US goods starting September 8, retaliation for the 50% tariffs Washington placed on Canadian products after trade talks collapsed last week. Toilet paper is on that list.
This week, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer waved off the fallout, arguing Canadian imports make up just 0.06% of US consumption and that “there’s no possible way it can really affect US well-being.” Canada supplies the US with more toilet paper than any other country. The US imported $328 million worth from Canada in 2024, and Costco sources much of its Kirkland-brand paper products there.
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Even toilet paper that US mills produce depends on Canadian lumber. Roughly 30% of a standard American roll comes from northern bleached softwood kraft pulp, which Canadian mills make from sawmill residue and export in bulk, so a tariff on that raw material and a tariff on the finished product can hit the same supply chain from both directions.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), which owns Charmin, said last year it would need to raise prices under similar tariff pressure.
The tariffs trace back to a collapse in trade talks in Washington on Friday, August 21. Carney called the resulting US tariffs a “miscalculation, because Canadians will always take care of each other.”
Read: What Washington Really Demanded Before Canada Walked Away
No further talks were scheduled when negotiations collapsed. Ottawa has set aside $25 billion in domestic support for workers and businesses absorbing the tariff hit, even as its own retaliatory measures raise costs for Canadian consumers too.
