TheCayley–Galt Tariff of 1858 was the firstprotective tariff in the history ofCanada. It imposed duties on fully-manufactured goods of 20% and a duty of 10% on partially-manufactured goods in an attempt to spur the domestic manufacturing industries.
The tariff caused immediate resentment in both theUnited Kingdom and theUnited States. The Americans' anger played an important role in their 1866 repeal of theCanadian–American Reciprocity Treaty, which had led tofree trade in natural resources.
Thetariff was only a foretaste of the much broader system of protection, which would be set up by theNational Policy in 1879.