WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump warned Canada today that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he will impose a 100% tariff on all goods coming over the border.
Relations between the US and its northern neighbour have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order.
During a visit to Beijing last week, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs – but Trump warned of serious consequences should that deal be realised.
If Carney “thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the US, he is sorely mistaken,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,” he said.
“If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% tariff against all Canadian goods and products coming into the US,” he said.
The two leaders have sharpened their rhetorical knives in recent days, beginning with Carney’s speech on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he earned a standing ovation for his frank assessment of a “rupture” in the US-led global order.
His comment was widely viewed as a reference to Trump’s disruptive influence on international affairs, although the US leader was not mentioned by name.
Trump fired back at Carney a day later in his own speech, and then withdrew an invitation for the Canadian prime minister to join his “Board of Peace” – his self-styled body for resolving global conflict.
Initially designed to oversee the situation in postwar Gaza, the body appears now to have a far wider scope, sparking concerns that Trump wants to create a rival to the UN.
“Canada doesn’t live because of the US. Canada thrives because we are Canadian,” Carney said Thursday in a national address, while acknowledging the “remarkable partnership between the two nations”.
Trade spats
Canada is heavily reliant on trade with the US, the destination for more than three quarters of Canadian exports.
Key Canadian sectors like auto, aluminium and steel have been hit hard by Trump’s global sectoral tariffs, but the impacts of the levies have been muted by the president’s broad adherence to an existing North American free trade agreement.
Negotiations on revising that deal are set for the start of this year, and Trump has repeatedly insisted the US doesn’t need access to any Canadian products – which would have sweeping consequences for its northern neighbour.
Trump has also repeatedly threatened to annex Canada, and this week posted an image on social media of a map with Canada – as well as Greenland and Venezuela – covered by the American flag.
The two nations, along with Mexico, are set to host the World Cup later this year.
