A 1930s Tariff Law Switches On Tonight. The Talks Haven't Stopped.

At 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, a tariff law that has sat unused since the Roosevelt administration switches on for the first time. Home Depot files its second-quarter numbers this morning without the man who has run the company since 2022 in the room to answer for them.

On July 20, 2026, President Trump issued three proclamations imposing 50% tariffs on certain imports from Canada under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, according to law firm client alerts tracking the action, marking what those alerts describe as the first time any U.S. president has invoked this authority. The tariffs take effect for goods entered for consumption on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern time on August 19, 2026. The proclamations cover an estimated $20 billion worth of U.S. imports from Canada, according to reporting on the measure. The administration has said the tariffs respond to Canadian trade practices it considers discriminatory, including provincial alcohol rules, auto tariffs and quotas, and dairy restrictions.

Section 338 authorizes the president to impose new or additional duties on countries found to discriminate against U.S. commerce and, unlike the tariff rounds of the past year, carries no built-in expiration written into the statute itself.

Talks between Washington and Ottawa have not stopped because of the deadline. Prime Minister Mark Carney said this week that negotiations with the U.S. are delicate and intense, and that he expects to speak with Trump sometime in the next 48 hours, according to CBC News. That is not a negotiating session scheduled to start at midnight. It is a head of government saying, as of this week, that a call with the White House was still being arranged, after weeks of talks between trade officials from both countries.

Six days before this tariff took effect, Home Depot's board announced that chairman and CEO Ted Decker is taking a temporary medical leave of absence expected to last a few months, the company confirmed. In his absence, Ann-Marie Campbell, who runs U.S. stores and operations, and the company's chief financial officer are steering the business, according to the company and reporting from CNBC and Bloomberg.

In Home Depot's first-quarter results, reported in May, the company said gross margin was 33%, down roughly 75 basis points from a year earlier, which it attributed to a change in sales mix following the GMS acquisition. Sales that quarter were $41.8 billion, up 4.8%, according to the company's own release.

Put together, the two stories share a structural thread: both institutions built a way to keep functioning when the person normally in charge of a decision isn't the one making it. Canada's negotiating team has spent weeks in Washington so the relationship doesn't hinge on one call landing at the right hour. Home Depot named interim leadership the same week it disclosed Decker's absence. Neither story is a crisis. Both are about what continuity looks like when a calendar forces a decision point regardless of who is at the desk.

Home Depot reports second-quarter results before the opening bell this morning. Watch whether Ottawa and Washington announce anything in the window Carney flagged, and how the earnings call reads without Decker on it.

How this edition was made →