The economy of Canada saw thousands of jobs lost in August amid the latest phase of a continued trade war with the United States.
Some 41,700 Canadians lost their jobs in August, according to a Friday data release, per a report from Reuters.
Analysts polled by the outlet had expected a gain of 15,000 jobs, following a strong 75,100 jobs gained in July.
The unemployment rate remained around 6.4 percent.
Reuters noted that the August report is the final data set to be released before the full force of 50 percent tariffs from the United States hits the Canadian economy.
Canada Jobs -41.7K
Canada shed 41,700 jobs in August. Should we annualize that too, the way Bay Street and Carney’s government annualized the latest GDP print? pic.twitter.com/a81sjBrBlf
— James E. Thorne (@DrJStrategy) September 4, 2026
While the tariffs only cover certain industries, they are focused on vulnerable sectors, such as wood products.
Royce Mendes, head of macro strategy at Desjardins, said that “the rise in trade tensions between Canada and the U.S. has opened up the possibility of another wave of layoffs in trade-exposed sectors.”
Mendes sees the trade war as the primary downside risk to the Canadian economy.
The Financial Post reported that job losses in August were concentrated in the public sector, natural resources, utilities and business, and building.
But 22,000 Canadian manufacturing jobs were gained in August.
Rishi Sondhi, an economist at TD Economics, said the jobs report showed strong year-over-year growth despite more recent pressures.
“There was a meaningful drop in employment (in August), but when you zoom out a little bit, the trends are still favourable,” he said.
“Some giveback after a string of robust gains was to be expected.”
Canada lost 41,700 jobs in August, the US gained 162,000 jobs. Despite the divergence in job additions, both countries saw their unemployment rates remain completely unchanged: 6.4% in Canada and 4.1% in the US.
The Silver Lining: Canada’s manufacturing sector proved to be a… https://t.co/oj9OOyk5dQ
— Martin Pelletier (@MPelletierCIO) September 4, 2026
President Donald Trump implemented roughly $28 billion of tariffs on Canadian goods, while dollar-for-dollar tariffs from Canada against U.S. products are expected to start on Tuesday.
Claire Fan, a senior economist at RBC Economics, said that “even then, our expectations are that the tariffs, much like the ones we’ve seen before, are going to have a really pronounced and narrow impact on the job market.”
She noted that “they just simply don’t impact the majority of Canadian jobs.”
“We estimate that around 0.4 percent of total employment is directly involved in producing the goods that are on the U.S. tariff list,” Fan continued.
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