Donald Trump sharply escalated his criticism of Canada in a late-night broadside, accusing the country of seeking “the benefits of a state without being one” as a deepening trade dispute with one of America’s closest allies appeared to hit a breaking point.
The latest rupture came Friday night, when Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pulled out of trade negotiations just hours before Trump’s 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of goods were set to come into force.
Carney said Canada withdrew because of “last-minute changes in the US proposed terms” that he described as “unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.” He also set September 8 as the date for Canada’s retaliatory tariffs to begin.
Trump responded shortly after 1am Sunday on Truth Social, writing: “Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!! They have also charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of Tariffs. No more!!!”
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also blamed Ottawa for the breakdown, saying in a statement that “Canada declined to finalise the trade deal under the terms agreed earlier this week.”
“Despite the US offer to Canada to receive the best treatment of any major exporter to our market, new demands and walk backs of other commitments by Canada have upended the careful balance reached in the past days,” Greer added.
Addressing the new Canada tariffs on Fox & Friends Weekend, Greer said Washington had been forced to respond after what he described as a year of retaliation from its longtime trading partner.
“We’ve said enough, and so we’ve taken countermeasures. Our interest is in protecting American workers and protecting American supply chains,” he said.
Donald Trump has blasted Canada for wanting ‘the benefits of a state without being one’ in a late-night Truth Social post, as the bitter trade war with the country reached boiling point
Trade talks between the countries collapsed on Friday night, when Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney withdrew from negotiations
Trump’s import taxes will impact about five per cent of Canadian goods shipped to the US each year, ranging from hockey sticks to tongue depressors.
Carney said Ottawa would respond with targeted tariff protection for industries exposed to the new US duties, including some steel products.
He also mentioned dairy, appliance, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper and electronics sectors. No further talks were planned.
Carney accused Washington of using ‘economic integration as a weapon’ and said ‘its signature was written in pencil.’
Resorting to the language of battle, he said his country had been ‘attacked’ by the new American tariffs.
‘You’re at war when you get attacked,’ he said, adding that Canada had the reserves, resilience and plan to respond.
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Trump hit back at Carney just after 1am on Sunday with the Truth Social post shown above
Carney said Canada had been willing to drop remaining retaliatory tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos if the US substantially lowered its own, and to encourage provinces to restore US alcohol sales.
However, he said Washington’s final demands went too far. ‘They asked too much and offered too little,’ Carney said.
The breakdown in negotiations marked a sharp reversal from two days earlier, when officials from the two countries sounded as if they were headed toward a compromise.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who leads Canada’s most populous province, praised Carney for rejecting the deal, saying it would have hurt Ontario’s auto, steel and manufacturing sectors.
Ford urged Canada to use ‘every tool in our toolbox’ to fight the US tariffs.
The moves also call into question the future of a North American trade agreement covering the United States, Canada and Mexico that is crucial to industry in all three countries.
Carney said the breakdown was ‘certainly not good news’ for the review of that agreement, and that the failed negotiations had given Canada ‘a new perspective’ on what Washington wants from the broader economic relationship.
Some $880billion worth of goods and services were traded between Canada and the US last year.
The US and Canada have wrangled for decades over trade, poking each other over sore spots such as Canadian softwood lumber imports and US access to Canada’s protected dairy market.
Somehow, they still managed to remain friends, allies and trading partners. Canadian soldiers fought alongside Americans in Afghanistan after 9/11.
The 5,525-mile U.S.-Canada border is undefended, and nearly 330,000 people and $2billion worth of goods cross it every day. The US is home to 800,000 Canadians.
