New Delhi, Aug. 22 -- The United States is set to impose 50 per cent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports after the two long-standing allies failed to reach a deal at the last minute.

The new tariffs will come into effect at 12:01 am on Saturday (local time) on hundreds of items that Washington imports from Ottawa, including plywood, liquor, electrical equipment and hockey gear, Bloomberg reported.

The two sides were locked in negotiations for weeks and had worked on a draft deal that included reducing tariffs on certain Canadian steel and aluminium to 25 per cent and cutting duties on Canadian autos to 15 per cent.

In exchange, Ottawa was to remove retaliatory measures that it implemented last year after the US President l...