An angry President Donald Trump picked a nonsensical fight with the United States’ closest ally and is now raging against Canada after it walked away from trade talks.
Prime Minister Mark Carney called the U.S. proposal “a bad deal” for his country, accusing the U.S. of “an attack” on Canada at a press conference. He promised retaliatory tariffs “dollar-for-dollar.”
Carney said Canadian officials had been negotiating in good faith but that the U.S. “asked too much and offered too little, CBS News reported.
“The new U.S. tariffs are designed to hurt us and divide us. They’re a miscalculation,” Carney said.
New 50 percent tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian goods went into effect on Saturday. It comes after weeks of negotiations broke down late on Friday, Aug. 20. Those goods include building materials, liquors, some kinds of clothing and hockey sticks.
Canada announced retaliatory taxes on U.S. goods beginning on Sept. 8 including new levies on steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper and electronics.
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‘Ripping Off the United States’
Trump took to social media Monday, Aug. 24, accusing the longtime U.S. ally and northern neighbor of “ripping off the United States of America for years.”
Trump wrote that “ridiculously high tariffs on our Farmers and farm products has made life impossible” and “created a 60 Billion Dollar Deficit between our two Countries.”
Trump then escalated the ballooning trade war with new threats of even more extensive levies on the Canadian automotive industry, which is heavily intertwined with U.S. automakers.
“On January First, 2027, Tariffs on all Cars, Trucks, both large and small, Automotive Parts, and Steel, will be increased to 50%,” Trump ranted in the post, claiming the U.S. would no longer treat Canada like a state.
Then he really went into meltdown mode, crowing in all-caps, “WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US! They do 95% of their business with the U.S., with us, the exact opposite!”
Trump doubled down on his attacks on the country on Tuesday, claiming he is considering renaming Lake Ontario.
“The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don’t expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer, he wrote to Truth Social.
‘Canada Won’t Be Bullied’
Social media erupted in a frenzy of disbelief at Trump’s apparent ignorance about Canadian trade and a trade deal he himself signed off on.
“It took him 3 days to listen to Carney’s presser on repeat [a]nd come up with that. The 95% comment calls it out. Simple minded man,” a Threads user proclaimed.
This poster pointed out, “He’s so senile that he forgets he’s the person who signed the trade deal currently in place with Canada!!!!!!!!”
Another declared, “Canada won’t be bullied by Trump!”
This poster is just tired of it. “Same tired a– bulls–t, over and over and over again. The record player is skipping and scratching the record. The GOP needs to replace the needle.”
Vice President Weighs In
Vice President JD Vance weighed in on the increasing tensions, Monday, at a political event in Maine smugly calling Canada “a state” before flippantly claiming he made a “Freudian slip.”
“Canada and China have been the two worst countries when it comes to trade policy anywhere in the world. What a shame that is. China, you of course expect. They’re our biggest economic competitor. I would expect that from China. I would not expect that from Canada,” Vance lamented.
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“We have to remember Canada is a state. Sorry, Freudian slip,” he claimed as the audience chuckled.
Trump replaced the original North American Free Trade Agreement in 2020 during his first term with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement or USMCA.
The agreement is still in effect, but it’s future is uncertain given Trump’s escalating trade war with Canada.
The USMCA must now undergo an annual review instead of longer term one. Despite the growing strains, the core trade framework continues to govern regional commerce, The Guardian reported.
